Facial Fractures and Numbness

[northshoreguy]

Approximately 24 hours ago I was assaulted on a city street.  The person punched me in the face with his fist just below my left eye.  Immediately, along with the pain, I noticed a numbness on my left cheek (in the area of the cheekbone), the left side of my upper lip, and most of my upper left teeth.  I was just seen in my local emergency room, and the diagnosis was three facial fractures, all left side, involving the maxillary sinus wall, zymotic arch, and interior orbital wall.  The doctor said that the numbness could possibly be caused by damage or bruising to the nerve that passes through one of these bones.  My questions: Judging from this diagnosis, is there any way at all to tell if I will ever regain feeling in these numb areas?  In cases past, is there a high success rate of regaining feeling?  If I am going to see success in regaining feeling, how long does it typically take?  Any information you could provide would be much appreciated.

[Numbface8373]

This is important to me too.  I was assaulted with a metal object.  Broken sinus bone.  There seems to be still "swelling" or hardness around the laceration (4 stitches).  It's numb around my cheek, and top left lip, and gums on the injury side.  When I smile, that lip only moves a little. The ER docs spoke to a plastic surgeon, who said the prognosis is good.  I'd have to have had a scull fracture for the nerve to be permanently damaged. That said...this was less than 2 weeks ago, so it's still early.  I have seen some improvement as the swelling has eased some of the pressure off the nerve. I'm nervous about it though.  I'll post as I know more.

[bradfordok]

Did you numbness ever get better?  I just had an incident this Saturday, same thing.  My face is numb and I'm wondering if it will ever get better.

[northshoreguy]

correction:  inferior orbital wall, not interior.