Your face is an integral part of who you are. And until you’ve experienced a facial injury, you can’t know just how much of an impact it can have on your confidence, self-esteem, and basic sense of who you are.
Fortunately, some facial injuries heal with no scarring. But for others, injuries to the face require multiple surgeries and long-term treatment that results in scarring and disfigurement. Here’s a look at some of the most common facial injuries sustained by car accident victims and those harmed by the negligent actions of other people.
What Are Some of the Most Common Causes of Facial Injuries?
There are many potential causes of facial injuries, but some are more common.
Car Accidents
Car accidents often involve both an incredible amount of force and many different surfaces your face can be slammed into. That combination can, unfortunately, lead to some of the worst facial injuries.
Some elements of a car accident are more likely to cause harm to your face than others, including:
- Broken glass
- Airbag deployment
- Flying debris and other flying objects
- Striking your head on the dashboard or other parts of the car
- Burns (if the vehicle catches on fire as a result of the accident)
- Being ejected from the car
Your face is sensitive, and even relatively minor facial injuries can cause bleeding and swelling immediately after the event. As a result, facial injuries tend to be some of the most easily recognizable injuries after a car crash.
However, it’s usually impossible to tell what kind of facial injury you have just by looking at it, so you will need a doctor to diagnose the issue and develop a treatment plan.
Falls
Falls — whether they happen because of a work accident, a slip and fall, or something else — have the potential to cause facial injuries as well. Most people will automatically try to break their fall with their hands or arms, so injuries to the face aren’t especially common in fall injuries.
However, if you are unable to break your fall or otherwise protect your face during the accident, falls have the potential to cause significant facial damage.
Assaults and Violence
Unfortunately, over the course of physical assaults, many perpetrators target your face. Depending on the severity of the assault, you may suffer anything from minor bruising to broken bones in your face. If the violence against you involved multiple blows, severe swelling can make it difficult to determine the extent of your injuries.
Sports Injuries
Sports (and contact sports in particular) can also cause significant injuries to the face. Combat sports like boxing and mixed martial arts routinely involve injuring the face, but it’s also possible to suffer accidental injuries in many other kinds of sports.
What Are Common Types of Facial Injuries?
Your face is full of complex structures, and that means there are many kinds of facial trauma. They range from minor to life-altering.
Burns
Burns can be incredibly devastating, and severe burn injuries to the face will often cause lasting disfigurement.
Physicians generally divide burns into three different degrees, with first-degree burns being the least severe:
- First-Degree Burns: Only impact outer layers of skin and often don’t scar
- Second-Degree Burns: Impact outer skin layers and underlying tissue and can cause severe pain, infection, and scarring
- Third-Degree Burns: Damage deeper tissue and can cause lasting nerve damage and scarring — they often require multiple surgeries to repair
Severe burns may require you to be hospitalized for some time. To support optimal healing, you’ll need specialized wound care and possibly surgeries. In many cases, people with severe burns are given IV antibiotics to minimize infection risk.
Fractures
Fractures in your face can cause pain and disfigurement, but they can also cause major disruption in everyday functioning. For example, if you break your jaw, it may be difficult or impossible to eat and speak until the bone heals completely.
Damaged Nerves
Many kinds of facial injuries can cause damage to the nerves of your face. Milder damage can cause a sensation of numbness or tingling that can be uncomfortable (but doesn’t necessarily interfere with daily activities).
However, severe nerve damage can impact facial movements that many people don’t even think about, including:
- Smiling
- Focusing your eyes
- Blinking
- Swallowing
- Biting
- Chewing
Nerve damage can also have long-term or even permanent effects on facial sensation.
Injuries To Your Teeth or Tongue
Teeth and tongue injuries are sometimes classified as facial injuries. If you’re in an accident, you may accidentally cut your tongue with your teeth. Serious cuts are painful and can get in the way of chewing and speaking.
Broken teeth are also possible in an accident. You will generally need to see a dental professional for a repair. Repairing fractured teeth is about more than just cosmetics — fractures make it easier for teeth to become infected, and they can also impact eating and speech.
When left untreated, these tooth infections can spread to your jawbone and other areas of your body.
Cuts and Abrasions
Compared to some of the injuries listed above, cuts and lacerations to your face might not sound especially troublesome. And in some cases, they can be mild. In other cases, they can cause permanent scarring.
For example, if you are in a car accident and suffer a mild road rash on your face, the injury can be painful and carries some risk of infection. However, most of the time, it will heal completely and leave no evidence behind.
On the other hand, if you get a very deep gash across your cheek, you might require stitches to fix it. The wound will likely heal completely, but it can also leave a substantial scar.
Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer in Lafayette To Discuss Your Facial Injuries
No injuries are easy to deal with, but facial injuries come with their own set of complications. If you deal with any kind of facial injury — and especially one that involves permanent scarring — even your sense of self is impacted.
At Kenny Habetz Injury Law, we believe that victims of facial injuries don’t only deserve to be compensated for medical bills — they deserve compensation for the lasting psychological effects that can come with these kinds of injuries.
If you’ve suffered a facial injury because of another person’s negligence or recklessness, we might be able to help. Contact us online or call us at (337) 227-6557 to speak with an experienced Lafayette personal injury lawyer. You can call 24 hours a day, seven days a week — there’s always someone to take your call. Your initial, no-obligation consultation is free.
