It seems very popular to talk about modified lefort III, compared to regular lefort III. What is it that is modified, is it always same modification, or is it patient specific. Is regular lefort III outdated or not applicable in these cases?
Well, if you Google for a diagram Lefort3, you see it takes a large chunk of the frontal face, including the Lefort 1 area and L2 with it. The mod L3 people usually refer to (the one that Earl got) is basically the lower orbital rim area and some cheek bone area. If you can get a hold of the paper I mentioned in this thread, it would probably detail more about it.
Here's a link to Leforts.
http://faculty.washington.edu/jeff8rob/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Lefort-1024x576.jpgIn GENERAL--and this is only in general-- a mod L3 is what's left over after you SUBTRACT the 'Type 2' area from the 'Type 3' area. That's the only way I can even attempt to describe it verbally to you. But it's one of those things that requires 'visual' skills to subtract type 2 from the type 3 diagram to 'see' (in your head) what's left over.
Here's a 'fun fact'. The 3 basic Leforts were named after Renee Lefort who SMASHED SKULLS--lots of them--against the wall where he noted the most common fracture lines. So, when he smashed them against the wall, the 3 most common ways they BROKE are described as 'L1', 'L2' and 'L3'. But of course, with some surgical skill--and modern equipment--a doctor doesn't have to perform a surgery along the fracture lines that commonly get kicked up subsequent to smashing a skull against the wall. Instead, he can selectively just cut into the parts he wants to move around. So, say he only wants to move the parts of Type 3 that are LEFT OVER after the Type 2 part is SUBTRACTED from the Type 3. That's an example of a 'modified L3'. If there are still some parts after that that he doesn't want to move, it's still a modified l3.
So, basically, a modified L3 is an L3 that DOES NOT include the L2 area. That's the easiest way to describe it in general. But the ONLY thing that describes SPECIFICALLY what a doc does who calls what he does a 'modified L3' is a diagram or a specific model of WHERE he is making the cuts as to the specific area to be released.