Facial Fracture (cont.)
IN THIS ARTICLE
Facial Fracture Symptoms
- Although certain symptoms are specific for the bone fractured, some symptoms are common to any fractured bone. But remember that these symptoms may indicate a soft tissue injury (without a broken bone).
- Pain
- Swelling
- Bruising
- Pain
- Broken nose
- Symptoms
- Swelling
- Tenderness
- Deformity
- Nosebleed (if present, is usually minor)
- Swelling
- Significant trauma to the bridge of the nose may result in a fracture of the bones inside your nose (ethmoid bones).
- Symptoms
- Broken jaw
- Symptoms
- Jaw pain
- Tenderness
- Inability to bring the teeth together properly (malocclusion)
- Jaw pain
- Bruising under the tongue almost always indicates a jaw fracture.
- Symptoms
- Midface (maxillary) fracture
- Symptoms (if conscious)
- Inability to bring the teeth together properly
- Visual problems
- Clear nasal discharge
- Inability to bring the teeth together properly
- Bruising may be present around the eyes and the midface may be able to be moved.
- These fractures are not usually subtle and are often the result of high-speed car accidents. As a result, there might be severe injury to areas other than the face.
- Many of these people will have difficulty breathing and require a tube to be placed down their throat to help them breathe.
- Symptoms (if conscious)
- Cheekbone (zygomatic) fracture
- Symptoms
- Flatness of the cheek
- Altered sensation underneath the eye on the affected side
- Visual complaints
- Pain with jaw movement
- Flatness of the cheek
- Blood in the side of the eye on the affected side sometimes is present.
- Symptoms
- Eye socket (orbital) fracture
- Symptoms
- Sunken eye (enophthalmos)
- Altered sensation beneath the affected eye
- Double vision, particularly with upward gaze
- Sunken eye (enophthalmos)
- This fracture involves the bones of the eye socket.
- Injury usually occurs when a blunt object hits the eye such as a fist or a ball.
- Symptoms
- Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dislocation
- Symptoms
- Jaw deviation
- Inability to close the mouth
- Jaw deviation
- Dislocation of the TMJ (the joint where your jaw meets with the temporal bone, right in front of your ear) can occur with blunt trauma, seizures, or excessive mouth opening.
- Symptoms
Next: When to Seek Medical Care »
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Fracture, Face »
In approximately 400 BC, Hippocrates provided the first description of a variety of facial injuries.
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