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Facial injuries from car accidents can be devastating. Not only do they affect your social life, but they can limit your ability to work in specific jobs. Cosmetic surgery can help, but it is expensive.
Facial scars from a car accident are usually permanent injuries. At Stevenson & Klotz Injury Lawyers, our car accident lawyers are dedicated to fighting for car accident victims in Pensacola and Mobile.
How Does Damage to the Face Happen in a Crash?
In most cases, damage to the face in a crash is caused by the following:
Airbag deployment
The primary purpose of an airbag is to protect your face from hitting the steering wheel. It’s a safety feature that has saved many lives, but at a cost. Airbags are deployed with significant force during an impact, which can damage your nose, jaw, and eyes.
Sometimes, the force from the deployment of the airbags can cause permanent scarring and injuries to your eyes, which can be temporary or permanent. Airbag injuries to the face can range from bruises to lacerations.
Contact with the steering wheel
When your face comes into contact with a steering wheel, the impact can cause significant injuries. You might get a concussion with symptoms ranging from dizziness, headaches, memory loss, and confusion, which can be temporary or permanent.
Steering wheel car accident injuries can cause severe damage. Having no airbag protection, you can suffer from permanent brain injuries depending on the severity of the impact.
Contact with the windshield
Another way you can receive facial injuries from car accidents is via the windshield. In severe cases, you can be ejected through the windshield if you’re not buckled up. The chances of a serious face injury and crushed limbs during such a crash are significantly high. Always ensure you’re buckled up.
What Kinds of Facial Injuries Can Occur During an Accident?
The severity of a facial injury during an accident usually depends on the impact velocity. Low impacts might cause a few bruises, while a high impact might cause a skull fracture.
The types of facial injuries we see occurring from car crashes are:
Fractures
Fractures are broken bones. You may have fractures in your face after experiencing an accident. Some bones a car wreck may affect in your face:
- Frontal bone (forehead)
- Cheekbones
- Nasal bones
- Jawbones
- Eye sockets
Fractures occurring on one side of your face are called unilateral; when they occur on both sides, they are known as bilateral. The following symptoms accompany facial fractures:
- Bruising on the skin
- Discoloration, especially under the eyes
- Sunken eyeballs
- Nose bleeding
- Blurry or double vision
- Swollen face
Bruises
A bruise happens when the blood from damaged capillaries pools under the skin and forms a tender, purplish, black, or blue mark. Bruises are often not catastrophic, but you should visit a doctor when you experience unbearable pain and swelling.
Lacerations
Facial lacerations occur when a penetrating object, such as shattered glasses, tears or cuts your skin during an accident. In worst-case scenarios, lacerations leave behind facial wounds that require several hours under the surgeon’s scalpel to correct and improve appearance.
Burns
During a crash, there is a possibility of a fire erupting from a leaking fuel tank. Burns usually affect the soft tissues of your skin. However, second and third-degree burns might go deeper and destroy skin cells and nerves.
Burns on the face leave permanent scars that lower self-confidence and affect your everyday life, especially if burns damage your eyes or mouth. Although skin grafting and cosmetic surgery can help restore your smile, it’s never the same.
What Treatment Options Exist for a Wounded, Damaged, or Scarred Face?
Your doctor can prescribe oral steroids and painkillers for pain from facial fractures to relieve your symptoms. In severe cases, you may have to undergo open reduction surgery to reposition any fractured bones. Reconstructive surgery will be required to treat a complex fracture with several broken bones.
Bruises on the face should be treated by applying an ice pack to the bruised area for a day or two. If you can’t see any positive changes, ensure you consult your health provider.
Burn wounds need to be cleaned and dressed by a health provider who will administer pain relievers and a tetanus shot.
Medical professionals should handle lacerations to avoid infection of the wound.
Plastic surgery should correct severe cases of laceration to minimize facial scars from a car accident. New scientific inventions and medical treatments have been developed to correct wounds on the face, and others are still in the research stage.
How to Obtain Compensation for Car Accident Facial Injury Treatments
Face injuries from car accidents can hurt your life and career. When undergoing treatment, medical bills can pile up at an alarming rate.
Settlements for facial injuries vary. Factors that affect the payment for facial damage include whether there is permanent scarring, how prominent any scars are, the victim’s age, and how much treatment or cosmetic surgery may be necessary to improve or remove a scar’s appearance.
When facial treatment costs exceed the amount of insurance coverage, a driver or passenger has, filing a personal injury lawsuit is often the next best option to recover all that an injury is worth.
Contact Stevenson Klotz Injury Lawyers to Assist With Compensating Car Accident Injuries
Facial injuries from car accidents negatively affect the self-esteem of the survivors. The situation is worse when insurance companies do not sufficiently compensate you or your loved ones.
Our attorneys at Stevenson Klotz Injury Lawyers are eager to assist in building a solid case to ensure you’re compensated for any injuries and treatments due to an auto accident. Our lawyers have years of experience handling car accident injury claims in Alabama and Florida. Contact us today.
FAQs About Car Accident Facial Injuries
How do I document injuries to the face from a car accident?
Taking several high-quality photographs of your face following a car accident can establish evidence of injuries like bruising or scarring. However, you should have a doctor examine you and create a record of injuries to the face beneath the skin, such as jaw or orbital fractures.
Can insurance companies deny my claim?
Yes, insurance companies keep their money when they delay claims and will say that they have incomplete information to delay payment. Call an experienced personal injury lawyer to ensure everything needed for your claim is submitted correctly.