Reassurance re facial injury

[CrazilySensitive]

I took a bit of a tumble yesterday, and have ended up with several gashes on my face, as well as other injuries. Been stitched up. I honestly look horrendous at the moment. I'm pretty devastated.
Has anyone had facial injuries and totally healed?

I was in a car accident in a car with no air bags many years ago - smashed my face into the dashboard, split my eyelid (doctors thought I would need surgery but in the end just had stitches) and skinned the area between my eyelids and eyebrows, as well as loads of bruises. At the time I was so self conscious but looking back, after the bruising had gone down it wasn't as horrifying a sight as I thought. Within a couple of months you would only have noticed the scars if you knew they were there. Now I have to really look hard in the mirror to spot them myself! I remember how uncomfortable it was though, especially trying to sleep - but in a few weeks you'll feel and look SO much better!!

How do they all know?

im surprised no one has offered. What about the friend who took you? Surely she’s popped around knowing you’re alone or she’s intending to?

Any “friend” who makes you feel “horribly disfigured” isn’t a friend

I can't speak from experience, however I have had injuries to other parts of my body and I can't even see the scars now.

Also, there are brilliant foundations on the market now which is specifically designed to cover up scars - so if they don't fade as much as you think, you always have that option.

I'd say to own it and be proud in your own skin, because it's true, there's nothing wrong with having scars - but I also understand why you might want them to go away/cover them up.

Meant to add that I used fresh Aloe vera gel on my injuries which really helped.

I was on my own much of the time too as OH was working away. After the bike accident a friend came round to keep me company and had a quick sob when she first saw me, just the shock of seeing someone you care about injured, I think. I was living in Amsterdam at the time and the Dutch can be quite blunt. When I met a friend in the street and took off my sunglasses to show him my black eyes, I said 'I look terrible' and he said 'Yes, you do' 😅

As for amazing bodies, last year I inadvertently cut the end of my thumb off in a kitchen accident. The end of my thumb was flat for a while but now looks like a normal thumb, even the thumb print grew back pretty well.

Yep +100 stitches after a car accident. It took months to heal but the selling did improve quickly. The scar is neat and white and not noticeable now (I'm sure people see it but it's not disfiguring iyswim) and I really forget about it unless someone mentions it (extremely rare and usually family or close friends) .

I didn't take enough time off work. If you need more time get signed off for longer. That is the one thing I would do differently going back. I am a hard worker and my bosses wouldn't have minded if I took what I needed (probably a month) instead of the one week I took 🙈 I was young and trying to be diligent. Don't be me!!

@BodgerBadgerMashup ahh I did exactly the same! Started to feel really guilty by the end of the first week so went back, and even then everyone was like what the hell are you doing here so soon haha but I just couldn't shake the feeling that I'd had long enough off and everyone would think I was being silly if I said I needed longer. Didn't know at the time that I had post concussion syndrome so definitely shouldn't have been at work staring at screens all day. I think even if you feel better physically it can also take a while to mentally recover from these things too

Thank you. Not heard of that. I'll look into it.

@Hateitissues thank you. I think it's my fault. I've given the impression I want to be left alone. I'll maybe ask someone to come over tomorrow...

Thank you all so much for the lovely messages. I want to respond to them all individually. I'm struggling to concentrate at the moment. Some good news - the swelling round my eyes has gone down loads today; so I look more like me. I literally was unrecognisable yesterday. It was totally shocking!

Ooof poor you. I had my ear bitten off by an animal, it’s been stitched back on and no visible scar except bumpy scar on the back. Give it time!

Oh my goodness @Longwhiskers that's a major injury, but even then it healed. Thank you so much for sharing

Thank you @Nuca and @BodgerBadgerMashup I'll see how I feel towards the end of this week, and go from there. I'll definitely be mindful of your advice

Oh, thank you so much @elephantseverywhere . That's very encouraging indeed. I'm sorry you went through such a trauma; and so glad you healed so well

Oh @Vegemiteandhoneyontoast your accident sounds horrendous. But so amazing that you pulled through so well.

Funnily enough, I put some aloe vera from a plant in the bathroom on the bruises (not the stitches) this morning, and it definitely seemed to help. It's only a tiny plant, so I'll try to get another bigger one. I'm inspired to hear it worked so well for you.

it will take time but it will heal nicely.

keep up with the wound care and make sure you protect any wounds from uv light.

all the best.

Thank you. I hope I did the right thing consenting to stitches? I hate having anything medical done to me, but they told me it'd heal far sooner with stitches. I keep wondering if I could have managed without? They didn't stitch all the wounds, just the deeper ones. I must say the medical team were totally wonderful.
Yes, I'll try to be religious with the care I give the wounds, and ultra careful with the sun

me. Fell off my bike. Bust lip. Broken nose. Black eye.

took about 2 weeks to settle. Lip took longer and the dissolvable suture never dissolved!

Two weeks is amazing! I'd be very happy with that.

Interesting about your lip. I had to have dissolvable stitches on the inside of my mouth, under the top lip. I think that was the worst part. I'm curious to see how long that takes

And yes 100 percent stitches. If you want to minimise scarring, the stitches especially if done will, which it sounds like yours were, will be much better than letting the wound heal open. I have a worse scar on my knee from a much smaller wound which was all but impossible to stitch so basically healed from the outside in instead.

I had a bad push bike accident last year thanks to a careless driver at their fault.

One of my injuries was a "Harry Potter" style lac down to the skull, plastics put me back together.

What has saved my forehead has been investment in professional skin care for scar revision treatment - including skin pen, genesis laser, medical grade serums.

I haven't included the before pic - it was brutal before plastics put me back together.

Ah, great. Thank you for that reassurance. I'm no expert, but think the doc did a good job. They're very small stitches. He's a max fax specialist, though not entirely sure what that is. A&E referred me, as they were worried their stitches would scar me

@YellowMonday thank you so much. That's incredible healing. I literally can't see a scar at all. I'll follow your advice for sure

This is the worst you're going to look, I imagine. From here it's all about the healing. It's incredible what the body can do. I have a scar on my chin that's almost imperceptible, from when I fell off a bed into a wardrobe (as you do...). Though it was when I was a youngster so maybe my skin was extra resilient! I have had other bits and pieces that I thought would scar, but didn't, though not on my face.

Good luck!

Thank you. I'll do all in my power to prevent scars. But I also need to make my peace with what happened. Not there yet!