Disfigurement injuries happen in both automobile and motorcycle accidents. However, the potential for disfigurement is particularly high for motorcyclists. The rider’s motorcycle provides little protection during an accident. This leaves the helmet, leather, boots, and gloves as the only barriers between the motorcyclist’s body and other motor vehicles and objects. Hitting the wrong type of guard rail, for example, can sever limbs, which is among the most severe of disfigurement injuries.
Facial disfigurement is another possible outcome of a motorcycle accident. Riders thrown off a bike, tumble and slide along the pavement, and rely on friction to bring them to a stop. This can cause substantial facial disfigurement when not wearing a visor or when it’s damaged. The abilities to see, hear, and communicate are centered at the face, and an accident can diminish these functions.
It’s said that the face is the “window of the soul” and is essential for all social interactions. A disfigured face or one with diminished functionality, also diminishes the victim’s life. It affects the person’s ability to socialize and therefore impacts their existing relationships as well as their ability to form new ones. Finding work, holding down a job, and career advancement are dependent to some extent on social skills, and are therefore profoundly affected by disfigurement.
The effects of disfigurement go beyond their impact on the victim’s external life. They also damage self-esteem and cause deep emotional and psychological pain, which in turn, cause further diminishment of the person’s life.
Unlike other types of injury that only incur medical expenses and lost wages, disfigurement is potentially life altering. In other words, the victim may never fully recover from its effects. That’s why the victim has the right to demand compensation from negligent or reckless motorists who are found liable. If a motorcycle accident disfigured you, contact us today at Hogan Injury.