An injury to the face might not sound like a big deal, but it can change everything. Your face is how people recognize you and how you express your emotions.
A facial injury can impact every part of your daily routine. Simple things like eating, smiling, and sleeping can become difficult, even impossible. Such trauma often requires surgery — sometimes more than one — and victims are often surprised to learn that the recovery process may require months or even years of treatment.
Types Of Facial Injuries In Legal Claims
Several common types of facial injuries that show up frequently in Florida personal injury claims include the following:
- Fractures: Breaks in the nose, jaw, cheekbones, or eye sockets can require plates, screws, and wiring to heal properly.
- Lacerations: Deep cuts can leave permanent scars, a risk of infection, and the need for cosmetic surgery.
- Dental Injuries: Broken or lost teeth can affect one’s speech, chewing, and overall health.
- Burns: These damage the skin and underlying tissue, typically leading to scarring that requires reconstructive surgery.
- Nerve Damage: Damage to facial nerves can cause numbness and partial paralysis (a condition known as Bell’s palsy), which may or may not improve over time.
In Florida, not every injury leads to (or requires filing) a lawsuit, but many forms of facial trauma occur because of someone else not doing what they were supposed to. Car crashes, dog bites, defective products, unsafe workplaces, and violent assaults are all just a few examples. Florida law allows victims to seek compensation for their losses when someone else is responsible.
Legal Options And Compensation In Florida
Florida law allows personal injury victims to file for compensation for a wide range of losses related to their facial injuries, such as:
- Medical costs, including current, future, and long-term care
- Lost wages, both past and future
- Physical and emotional pain and suffering
- Scarring and disfigurement
- Loss of enjoyment of life
To file a successful claim, victims must show that someone else’s carelessness caused their injury. It could be a distracted driver, a negligent boss, or a property owner who didn’t fix a hazard that they knew about.
Florida’s personal injury laws also operate under a modified comparative fault system, which means the compensation an injured individual receives can be affected if they are partially responsible. The statute of limitations also sets a deadline, and if you miss it, you might not be able to recover anything at all.
How Facial Injuries Can Affect Your Life: Why These Cases Deserve Serious Attention
As alluded to earlier, facial injuries aren’t just a matter of looking different; the changes that come with a facial injury can bleed into an individual’s relationships, work, and emotional well-being by way of affecting their entire identity and ability to function.
A facial scar or deformity might make someone avoid going out with their friends and hesitate to go back to work or even look at themselves in the mirror. Kids and teens are especially vulnerable in the aftermath of such injuries. Facial changes during their formative years can impact their social experiences as well as their overall self-esteem.
To put it simply, facial injuries carry a weight that others might not understand if they haven’t been through such an experience themselves.
But even beyond that, medical bills will also pile up fast, especially if surgery or rehab is involved. Some people lose their income because they can’t work while they’re recovering, and insurance companies rarely cover the full costs or long-term lifestyle impacts of these injuries. Getting a fair settlement offer from them can be more than a challenge.
Ultimately, the most upsetting factor behind many of these types of injuries is that they are entirely preventable. When someone else’s actions (or lack thereof) lead to trauma so severe, victims have the right to demand justice and financial relief; they deserve accountability.
To that end, fair compensation doesn’t just help the injured person recover; it also pressures others to act more responsibly in the future and prevent others from being hurt in the same way. Depending on the situation, those changes may include safer driving, better training, or improved product designs.
Contact a Florida Personal Injury Lawyer at Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers for a Free Consultation
If you suffered a facial injury in Florida and believe someone else is at fault, you don’t have to face the aftermath by yourself. Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers can help you understand your rights and fight for the compensation you’re entitled to.
Contact our Florida personal injury lawyers today at (813) 223-6200 to schedule a free consultation, and let us shoulder the legal fight so you can focus your energy on healing and moving forward.
