The immediate effect of contusions of the soft tissue facial tissues (including skin, subcutaneous tissues, fascia and muscle, ligaments and tendons, nerves, and blood vessels) may be localized bleeding, edema, and inflammation. This typically results in scarring, contracture formation, and potentially decreased vascularity due to intimal damage of the vessels, and neural dysfunction due to bruising, scarring and possible demyelinized segments of nerves. For a younger person (i.e., less than ~20 years old), the recovery from such an injury can be good. However, an elderly person will not recover much function beyond six months.
Soft tissue facial contusion medical expert witness specialties include plastic surgery, pediatric plastic surgery, oculoplastic surgery, forensic pathology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, and forensic pathology.