Car Accident Scarring and Disfigurement in Tennessee
Car accident scarring and disfigurement can lead to permanent visible changes, physical limitations, chronic sensitivity, and psychological harm. In Tennessee car accident claims, victims may seek compensation for medical treatment, scar revision, reconstructive care, emotional scars, and loss of enjoyment of life. Our firm provides free consultations to car accident victims, helping them explore their legal options.
What Counts as Scarring or Disfigurement After a Motor Vehicle Accident?
Scarring refers to long-term or permanent, visible injuries that remain after the healing process is complete. Disfigurement is a broader term; according to the American Psychological Association, disfigurement is “an enduring, visible physical difference or deformity that substantially affects a person’s appearance.”
Carrying and disfigurement usually refer to visible physical changes, but the damages may also include functional limitations, chronic pain, sensitivity, and emotional effects caused by the injury.
How Do Car Accidents Cause Scarring and Disfigurement?
Broken glass may cause deep puncture wounds, while impacts with dashboards and steering wheels can result in broken bones. Ejection from a vehicle creates serious injuries that require medical treatment, including deep cuts or fractures.
Vehicle fires can cause serious burn injuries that permanently change a person’s physical appearance or function. Emergency medical treatments, orthopedic hardware, and surgical incisions for spinal cord injuries may cause visible scars and chronic pain.
Our Nashville airbag injury lawyers also see permanent physical changes from airbag deployment, while seat belt trauma may cause scarring and disfigurement for some individuals.
What Types of Scars Can Follow a Car Crash?
The visible appearance, permanence, sensitivity, and functional limitations of a scar can significantly impact your overall damages. For example, significant scarring or disfigurement on the face would likely mean more medical expenses and psychological distress.
Scars form in a variety of different ways. Keloid and hypertrophic scars are raised scars, but keloids grow beyond the original wound area, while hypertrophic ones don’t. Contracture scars are tight, fibrotic areas of skin that form after severe cuts or burn injuries, which may limit movement and cause pain. If the scar pits or indents, this is called an atrophic scar.
Road rash scars are common with motorcycle accidents or bicycle accidents, often covering a large patch of skin. Medical procedures, like incisions for surgical hardware, are considered surgical scars. Lastly, any injuries to the face, lips, eyelids, nose, or jaw are considered facial scarring.
What Injuries Often Lead to Permanent Disfigurement?
Injuries that can lead to permanent disfigurement can include:
- Burns
- Facial fractures
- Deep lacerations
- Eye injuries
- Dental and jaw injuries
- Broken bones that heal with deformity
- Amputations
- Crush injuries
- Nerve damage affecting facial expression or movement
- Internal injuries requiring major surgery
- Spinal injuries causing posture, gait, or mobility changes
How Do Facial Injuries and Disfigurement Affect Accident Victims’ Mental Health?
Beyond physical changes, traumatic injuries can lead to chronic pain and significant psychological distress, including PTSD, depression, and social isolation.
Scarring and disfigurement can significantly impact a victim’s self-esteem, social interactions, and career opportunities, leading to feelings of anxiety and depression. Victims may avoid having pictures taken, visiting public spaces, wearing clothes they like, dating, or enjoying physical intimacy.
The psychological impact of scarring and disfigurement often causes long-term emotional trauma. This may result in a higher risk for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, clinical depression, and suicidal thoughts.
Physical discomfort, itchiness, and sensitivity can also affect a person’s ability to use that body part or enjoy life overall. It is possible to sue for loss of enjoyment of life, including the impact of facial injuries on life quality.
What Compensation Can Victims Recover for Permanent Scarring After a Car Crash?
There is a range of damages that can be recovered in car accident cases in Tennessee. Your compensation is determined by whether these are permanent injuries, what treatments you need to heal, and what challenges you have faced as a result of the injuries.
Medical Costs and Other Economic Damages
Common economic damages include:
- Emergency wound care, including stitches or staples
- Burn treatment, such as burn care specialists and skin grafting
- Emergency medical care, such as infection treatment
- Plastic surgery or reconstructive surgery
- Scar revision surgeries
- Dermatology treatments
- Pain management, including laser therapy, steroid injections, and prescription medication
- Physical, occupational therapy, or other rehabilitation services for contractures and mobility limitations
- Psychological counseling and mental health support
- Lost wages
- Loss of earning capacity
- Future medical expenses
Non-Economic Damages
In personal injury lawsuits, damages for scars and disfiguring injuries are recognized as a unique category due to their profound psychological effects and impact on social relationships and opportunities. These damages can include:
- Physical pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Embarrassment and humiliation
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of confidence
- Social withdrawal
- Disfigurement
- Loss of consortium, if relevant
Tennessee generally caps noneconomic damages at $750,000, with a higher $1,000,000 noneconomic-damages cap for qualifying catastrophic injuries (TN Code § 29-39-102). This cap does not limit economic damages such as medical bills, lost income, or future care costs.
How Do Insurers Argue Against Scarring and Disfigurement Claims?
A Nashville car accident attorney can help refute common insurance tactics to reduce claims, such as arguing that the scar is cosmetic and will fade. They may also claim that treatment is unnecessary and that any interventions, like plastic surgery, are elective.
Insurers may state that because the injury doesn’t impact overall function, the victim is exaggerating emotional distress. They may also claim the scarring or disfigurement is unrelated to the accident, that the patient was non-compliant with treatment, or that it was pre-existing.
How Do You Prove Scarring and Disfigurement Damages?
We can use evidence such as:
- Photos after the crash and during the healing process
- Emergency room, surgery, severe burn treatment, and dermatology records
- Scar measurements taken over time
- Physical therapy records
- Mental health records
- Future treatment records
- Medical expert opinions on permanence
- Statements from family, friends, and coworkers
- Employment records if work is affected
- Personal pain diary
Before-and-after photos should be dated and in consistent lighting, as this will help show the change over time.
How Long Do You Have to File a Scarring and Disfigurement Claim in Tennessee?
The car accident statute of limitations in Tennessee is typically one year from the date of the accident, making it essential to act quickly (Tennessee Code § 28-3-104).
Book a Free Consultation With Grissim & Waterman and See How We Can Help You Recover Maximum Compensation
Our team will show who was liable for the accident and how your injury has affected each aspect of your life. We will preserve photos, vehicle evidence, medical records, and witness statements to substantiate your claim. By working with plastic surgery, burn, or orthopedic experts when necessary, we can calculate damages and refute common insurance company arguments like that the scar is minor.
We act quickly to ensure that we can file a lawsuit before the deadline if necessary. You can contact a Nashville personal injury attorney for a free consultation by calling 615-255-9999 or contacting us online.
