You really can break someone's face

One of my black belts, Bill Damewood, is a paramedic (actually, a few of them are) and we were discussing facial trauma. There is something called Le Fort's fracture and it has three levels. He sent this along.

More than a century ago, Rene LeFort studied facial fractures in an experimental fashion.

He noted three common patters of fractures involving the bones of the midface. The following are called LeFort fractures:

LeFort I: This injury involves a horizontal fracture of the maxilla from the remainder of the midface. The maxilla may be depressed downward toward the tongue and compromise the airway because of the fracture and associated swelling.

LeFort II: This injury is also known as a pyramidal fracture because the fracture plane extends obliquely in an inferolateral direction. This type of midface fracture may be associated with significant hemorrhage because the fracture extends through the highly vascularized sinus cavities.

LeFort III: This injury is also known as craniofacial dissociation because the bones of the midface are fractured off from the remainder of the skull.

Picture from Google images. Take a look there to see more.