<p>This is a hypothetical for a fictional character, but I’m not finding a clear answer on the Net and hope that someone here will know off the top of his or her head.</p>
<p>Following a car crash (no seat belt, air bags, a tree) there are head injuries and extremely severe facial bruising. The nose needs to be reset and there are stitches. How long, on the outside, could facial brusing last?</p>
<p>Not a doctor … but my son had a horrific bicycle accident involving facial bruising, abrasions, and stitches.</p>
<p>Three weeks to looking halfway decent (abrasions covered with new skin), six months to a year before looking fully recovered.</p>
<p>A solid six months to recovery from the concussion in terms of schoolwork returning to previous levels of achievement.</p>
<p>I’m an life-long ‘easy bruiser’. It can easily take 3-4 weeks for even a small bump-on-the-shin type bruise to heal. I’ve had more serious bruising last up to 2 months. Bruises turn different colors as they heal. At fist it will be small, then as it heals it will spread to a larger area (I guess as the blood dissipates). Then they go from blue to purple to yellowish-green before finally healing. Often the center of a bruise will go away first leaving a bruised edge. This is just my experience, though I’ve had many years to study it and many opportunities to discuss it with physicians.</p>
<p>ETA: Different areas of the body react differently to bruising (For example, bruises on my shins and thighs take longer to heal than my arms). I’ve never had facial bruising, so I’m not sure about that.</p>
<p>cnp and MomLive – Thanks so much for this info, and cnp so sorry about your son. Very glad the recovery is behind him!</p>
<p>Graphic question: Is it realistic to have some discoloration of the skin on the face more than a month later?</p>