Facial scarring might not impair your ability to work or perform activities of daily living, but it can still have a huge impact on your life. Damages for these injuries are an especially important part of many injury cases in Texas.
You can claim damages for facial scars, even if they do not impair your ability to work or care for yourself. All injuries have intrinsic damages for the pain and suffering they cause, and facial scars are considered to have especially high pain and suffering damages because they cause disfigurement. However, your specific damages will depend on many factors.
For a free evaluation of your injury case, call The Queenan Law Firm’s Texas personal injury attorneys at (817) 476-1797 today.
Can You Sue for Facial Scars?
After an accident, you can sue for any injuries you faced. The goal of suing is to set right the harm that was done. In some injury cases, this is simple enough because the medical care will heal the injuries, and you can return to your normal life.
With significant facial scarring, there is additional harm that you can sue for. Damages for pain and mental suffering are common in all injury cases, but facial scars are deeply personal, visible harms that result in potentially higher damages.
What Damages Can You Get for Facial Scarring?
You cannot sue for an injury without damages. Facial scars result from serious injuries that might cause you all kinds of damages, meaning that you can definitely sue for the initial injury. However, you can also sue for the scars themselves.
Facial scars and other facial disfigurement (burns, missing parts) are considered extremely serious, life-altering injuries, even if they do not necessarily impact your day-to-day abilities or ability to work.
Damages Available
With something like a broken neck, you probably face all three areas of damages (workers’ comp, lost wages, and pain and suffering). In contrast, serious facial injuries might not disable you beyond your initial healing period. Even so, you can still get damages for the medical bills and pain and suffering, both of which could be extensive.
Medical care for facial injuries often involves specialists like plastic surgeons. You may even need skin grafts if the scars were from serious burns.
Pain and Suffering
Even so, serious facial scars are considered so intimate and can cause mental suffering beyond what the pain causes. These damages are available because facial scars
- Are so visible, while scars on your body can be covered by clothes
- Alter your appearance
- Can cause grief from the disfigurement in a way that bodily scars might not.
How is Pain and Suffering Calculated for Facial Scars?
Pain and suffering damages are determined based on how much impact and harm the injury caused the victim. They are not based on a list of injuries, each of which gets a specific amount of damages.
This means you have to look at specific details for each victim. Factors such as the following can increase the pain and suffering, distress, and other “non-economic” damages for a victim of facial disfigurement:
- The severity of the disfigurement
- The obviousness of the scarring
- Younger victims receive higher damages than older victims
- Single victims receive higher damages than married victims
- Women often receive higher damages than men
- People who rely on their appearance (public figures, models, actors) may face higher damages.
These are all generalities and do not necessarily hold true for every case.
FAQs for Facial Scarring Cases in Texas
Can You Get Economic Damages for Facial Disfigurement?
For most people, the core economic damages will be the cost of medical care to treat their injuries. However, you can also get compensation for other costs related to your case, such as hospital transportation and care for your children while you are in the hospital.
Staying home from work while your initial injury heals will also result in lost wages. Beyond that, a minority of people will face lost wages from their scars because they rely on their face for work, such as models and actors.
Can a Lawsuit Cover Plastic Surgery Costs?
The term “plastic surgery” is often associated with elective procedures, but plastic surgeons also commonly treat facial injuries. When you suffer serious cuts or burns, a plastic surgeon may be the one to give you stitches or otherwise treat the injuries instead of a normal emergency room doctor to help reduce scarring.
That is certainly covered because it is essential care to treat the injury. Even additional plastic surgery care beyond that to restore your face more to its original appearance – or another “normal” appearance – can still be covered.
Can a Lawsuit Cover Therapy for Facial Disfigurement?
Many kinds of injuries wreak havoc on your confidence, self-esteem, and view of your own personal safety. Facial injuries often do the most damage in this area, and speaking with a therapist is often a vital part of your treatment.
The emotional distress costs should certainly be covered, as should any psychological or mental health care. This is covered in the same way any physical or medical health care would be covered.
What if My Facial Scars Make it Hard to Eat and Drink?
Some people with severe facial injuries can no longer close their mouth or may have lost part of their jaw or teeth. This will inevitably increase the damages you face because of the severe impact on your activities of daily living.
Are Facial Injuries Covered at Work?
Workers’ Compensation may provide specific benefits for significant facial scarring, but our lawyers do not handle Workers’ Comp claims. In any case, many workers in Texas are not covered by Workers’ Comp because they or their employers opted out of the system.
If you are not covered, you may be able to sue your employer for work-related facial scars and burns if they were at fault.
How Long Do I Have to Sue for Facial Scars in Texas?
Most Texas injury claims must be filed within 2 years of the injury. This rule comes under the statute of limitations for personal injury.
Call Our Texas Personal Injury Lawyers Today
For a free case review on your facial injury case, call The Queenan Law Firm’s Texas personal injury lawyers at (817) 476-1797.