Dimple caused by cheek injury

[armarni]

Hi everyone, about 4 weeks ago my 17 month old DD had a nasty tumble and her cheek hit the corner of our coffee table creating a very large bruise. She seemed fine after a few minutes of crying so I didnt think anything of it. Yet as the bruising has subsided Ive noticed that a hard lump has appreared under the skin at the point of impact and this has caused her to have a one sided dimple when she smiles as the skin is now contorted around this lump. I hate to think that her face is disfigured for life now. Can anyone else whose been through this post up any advice please. I've googled the issue and I'm not the only person who this has happened to, but nobody seems to give a definitive answer as to wether the lump is permenant scar tissue under the skin or if it will go with time.

TIA

Elonnia, any updates on your experience?

Farzaneh and Leo7541, I have just DM'ed/email both of you. Happy to chat!

The maxillofacial specialist recommended not going down the surgery route.

Fat grafting is a possibility however in my opinion the risks (e.g. facial paralysis) are not worth it. As I’m young (22), the surgeon said it can also result in the fat causing a bump to appear as I get older and my face naturally loses tissue. It will also cause scars in your thigh where the fat is taken from.

His only recommendation was gentle daily massages to reduce the hematoma, which he said could take up to a year to fully dissolve.

I’ve come to a point of acceptance. I now have a trauma dimple. It adds character to my face, or so I’ve been told. It was difficult at first - of course your face changes naturally as you get older, but a sudden change can be quite jarring. Hopefully this puts any parents mind’s at ease - your child is going to grow up with the dimple as part of their face, they will be used to it, just don’t keep bringing it up to them as an issue that needs fixing and they’ll be fine.

Thanks for the update Elonnia. Did your surgeon suggest hyaluronic acid filler at all by chance? I (ironically) have a traumatic cheek dimple, as well as my son, and I had mine "filled" with filler and it is about 50-75% more filled in than it was previously without anything. It's much more subtle now. I think this is what we may do with my son's when he gets older, although filler also carries some risks as well. Just thought I would share!

Hi all, Just wanted to share that we have been using red-light therapy on my sons traumatic cheek dimple for around 5 or 6 months now (his injury is now 4 years old), and I feel like it is helping to soften the scar a bit. He also had some residual discoloration beneath the skin surface (like a dark tinge) that is now completely gone. Anyhow, just thought I would share!

Hi all, my son injured his cheek about 3 months ago. He developed a hard lump (I believe an organized hematoma), and when he smiles there’s an indentation. His skin is being pulled down around the lump. Can anyone tell me about how long it took for their child’s lump to go away? And once it was gone did the indentation improve? Thank you in advance!

Edit: the injury happened almost 2 months ago.

Worried mom over here trying to figure out when I can expect the hard lump to go away.

@Srmiz Hi I had an injury such as this myself 1 1/2 years ago.

The maxillofacial specialist told me a hematoma can take up to a year to fully dissolve, but yes it eventually will go.

As for the indentation, it’s ultimately caused far the tissue death in that area. I was told that gain can help reduce its appearance but the hematoma dissolving will like make it a little more defined.

As I’ve posted here previously, your child will grow up used to the indent as part of their face, it most likely won’t bother them. I’ve accepted mine. It doesn’t bother me at all anymore. If it really bothers them, there are cosmetic options available to try and reduce it when they’re an adult.

Hope this helps

@elonnia thank you so much for your response. In your case, did it end up taking a full year to dissolve? Were you massaging it? And could you only see yours when you smile?

My son looks like he has a faint bruise where the hard lump is, so I’m hoping the discoloration goes away once the lump dissolves.

@Srmiz It didn’t take a whole year, probably about 6-8 months but massaging it did help, and was recommended by the max fax specialist. It was hard to tell what the hematoma was and what was just tissue/muscle displacement due to the injury. You can only see mine when I smile or make any other facial expression, but most people now assume it’s just a dimple, not a scar

Holy smokes! My daughter has an accident while in the playground a few weeks ago and has now developed a dimple as well. I didn't know it was this common or that it could potentially stay like that!!! Oh my goodness!! It looks adorable though, but now I wonder if I should have it looked at 😲

@Farzaneh Hi! How is your son’s cheek now? I really hope it improved. My son (4 y.o.) has very similar cheek dimple after trauma. It’s been almost 3 months after trauma and it hasn’t improved at all! I can’t think about anything else but this…

Hi @DCMILLER could you please tell me more about it? Have you continued the red light therapy? Did it resolve the issue in the end? Can I ask how often you had it done and was it just over the dimple, or the whole face?

My daughter is 2.5, and the injury is 3 weeks old, but I want to act fast.

Hello everyone so my daughter as this dimple she's had it since birth on bottom of her bk on left side it's a deep dimple so she now nearly 2 she woke up with a bruse in the dimple with a bit of swelling and its hard to touch as anyone one else's had this

Same thing happened with my boy …3weeks ago…he is 16 month old….how is your baby now..how about the dimple?
please answer

It's almost gone now 😆 which actually looked really cute when it was there lol

So cute…May god bless her

Hi katia17
How is your babys cheek now??hope he is doing good…I am on same boat for 3weeks…worried for my little boy 🥹

My 1-year-old daughter hit her cheek and it formed this indentation. It's been 7 weeks and it's still like this. I'm massaging it and hoping it will go away.