Oral & maxillofacial2 min read

Facial trauma: how injuries to the face are repaired

Facial injuries range from a laceration to a complex fracture. What treatment involves, and why the assessment matters as much as the repair.

Stone Surgical ArtsOriginally published December 5, 2024Updated September 9, 2026

Perspective from Stone Surgical Arts

The face holds bone, nerve, muscle and the structures behind sight, smell and chewing in a small space. That is why an injury there is assessed carefully even when it looks minor from the outside.

A thought to keep

Have a facial injury assessed promptly, even a small one. What is visible on the surface does not always indicate what happened to the bone beneath.

How facial injuries happen

Falls, road collisions, sport and assault account for most facial trauma. The pattern of injury tends to follow the direction and force of the impact rather than the sport or setting.

Injuries range from a laceration of the skin to fractures of the nose, cheekbone, eye socket or jaw, sometimes several together.

The assessment comes first

Before any repair, the assessment establishes what is injured: whether the bones are displaced, whether the bite still meets correctly, whether vision, sensation or airway are affected. Imaging usually forms part of this.

A wound that looks small can accompany a fracture underneath, and a fracture can be present without an obvious deformity. This is the reason for examining rather than estimating.

What repair involves

Some fractures can be reduced without an incision. Others need to be exposed, realigned and held with small plates and screws so the bone heals in the correct position.

Where the bite is involved, restoring it is usually the priority the rest of the plan is built around, since the teeth indicate whether the jaws have been returned to their original relationship.

Recovery and what to expect

Swelling and bruising are expected in the early period and settle over weeks. Diet may be restricted for a time where the jaw is involved, and follow-up appointments check that healing is progressing as planned.

Ask what a realistic result looks like for your particular injury, including how any scar is likely to settle and over what period. Surgery aims to restore function and appearance; it does not always return the face to exactly its previous state.

Adapted from the Stone Surgical Arts archive and updated for clarity. This article offers general information; an individual consultation is needed for treatment advice.