Compensating Permanent Scars From Car Accidents

You may suffer permanent scarring after a personal injury. Your skin may suffer damage as a result of a traumatic impact. While your skin can heal itself to an extent, it can only heal so much. During the healing process, the body releases a substance called collagen. The body will create a protective layer over the damaged area, which will result in a scab. The scab may cause some damaged tissue, which will not fully heal.

Alternatively, you may have suffered a serious cut that requires sutures. Since the doctor has sewn the edges of your skin back together, the line where they become attached again will remain visible. In other words, while the skin can heal, there may always be some evidence of the injury that will never completely go away.

Contact the Beverly Hills car accident lawyers at One Law Group to learn more about possible compensation for car accident scars.

How You Can Suffer Permanent Scarring From a Car Accident

Ways that you can suffer permanent scarring include:

• Cuts and lacerations
• Contusions
• Burns
• Surgical procedures for your accident injuries

Of course, the size and prominence of the scar depends on the severity of your injury and where on the body it happened. Burns may lead to some of the most significant scarrings because you may need entirely new skin in a graft.

Permanent Scarring Is a Part of Your Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages are a significant part of your financial compensation from a car accident. These damages are subjective and non-monetary losses that measure your own specific and unique experience. Your car accident injuries take away from your quality of life, and they may continue to do so, depending on the severity. You can be paid for both past and future damages in a personal injury case.

One of the main elements of your non-economic damages is pain and suffering, which consists of a number of subelements. There are many different things that fall under the umbrella of pain and suffering. What they are called individually does not necessarily matter — the point is the same; you can be paid for anything that causes you any kind of discomfort, whether it is based on how you feel or look.

The fact that you have permanent scarring is damage to your body. It can permanently change your physical appearance. Embarrassment and humiliation are also part of your pain and suffering damages. When you have a scar in a prominent and visible place, you may feel embarrassed. The more prominent and extensive your scarring, the more compensation you can receive.

Factors That Can Affect Your Compensation for Permanent Scarring

Visibility is just one potential factor that can impact the compensation for a scar. Factors that may be considered include:

• Your age at the time of the accident
• The placement of the scar
• The size of the scar
• The color and visibility of the scar
• Your marital status (with the idea that a prominent scar can make it more difficult to find a partner)
• What your life was like before the accident (the more prominence and public exposure you had, the higher the potential compensation)

While nobody wants a permanent scar in a visible place, a prominent disfigurement on a younger person is likely to be worth more because you have more life ahead of you and many things with which the scar may interfere.

The Prominence of the Scar Is a Significant Factor in Compensation

It is difficult to estimate exactly how much you can receive from permanent scarring. Usually, facial scarring is the type that will result in the most financial compensation for you. In our experience, cases with prominent facial scarring may result in settlements that reach into the six figures. Then, you may also be entitled to significant compensation if scar tissue impacts your mobility and ability to live your daily life.

For example, if you have extensive scarring on your arms or legs, it can either deaden nerve endings or make it difficult to keep your full range of motion. Then, you may be unable to work if you have a job that requires physical labor.

Many Car Accident Injuries Are Subjective in Nature

Compensation for car accident scarring is one of the many subjective things that must be valued in a personal injury settlement. The insurance company is always going to want to understate and minimize the effects of your injury. Otherwise, they will need to pay you full compensation. It is up to you to fight for your own interests, and you can do that by hiring an experienced personal injury lawyer. An attorney will help you come up with a valuation of your claim based on all the relevant factors that account for your own individual experience.

Contact a Beverly Hills Car Accident Attorney

The attorneys at the One Law Group will work to maximize your financial compensation when you suffer an injury in a car accident that was someone else’s fault. When you reach out to us for an initial consultation, we can review your case and explain your legal rights for possible compensation. Contact our lawyers online or call us today at (844) 626-1529.

Car Accident Case FAQs