Facial Bone Fractures: Avoid These Common Mistakes

Facial bone fractures occur without warning, often causing significant damage. They affect the nerves, muscles, and skin, as well as the bone, requiring specialized treatment to prevent long-term damage. Following your doctor’s advice is vital, including avoiding certain foods, sleeping positions, and applying pressure on the injury.

Depending on the damage, you may experience loss of flexibility in the facial muscles, joints, and skin. Physical therapy is frequently recommended to improve these issues. A trained therapist guides you through stretches and exercises to regain jaw, cheek, and eye movements. They’ll also teach you what to avoid to prevent complications, which we’ll discuss below.

Close-up image of a woman's lower face and neck, highlighting the jawline and cheekbones — often examined in cases of facial bone fractures to assess structural alignment and swelling.

Facial Bone Fractures

Facial fractures have several causes, including falls, car accidents, sports injuries, and physical altercations. Depending on the damage location, the jaw, teeth, mid-face, and eyes could be affected. Regardless of the trauma location, avoiding certain habits or activities reduces the chances of further injury.

Fracturing a facial bone may be minor or cause long-term damage, including issues with vision, sinuses, or breathing. Tenderness, tingling, or numbness in the face and headaches may also occur. According to experts, such injuries may take months to fully heal.

To speed up the process, consistently follow your doctor’s orders. They will monitor the wound as it heals, altering treatment as needed to improve recovery.

Things to avoid – sleeping positions

Sleeping with a facial fracture isn’t easy since the injured bones need protection during the night. No matter what part of the face is affected, experts recommend sleeping on your back rather than the face or side 3. Doing so prevents excess pressure on the damaged bones.

Head elevation is also vital to reduce blood flow to your injury. Propping your head on a pillow or two limits bleeding and reduces inflammation for a quicker recovery.

Don’t chew hard food

Bone health relies on several nutrients, especially when healing facial fractures and other injuries. Stick to foods containing high amounts of calcium, phosphorus, iron, protein, and vitamins C, D, and K.

Of course, you’ll have to alter how you obtain these nutrients since hard foods could cause further damage. Choose soft foods, including soups, applesauce, mashed potatoes, oatmeal, eggs, and smoothies. Your doctor will determine when you can reintroduce solid foods into your diet.

Don’t apply pressure to the face

Casts or other immobilization items protect broken bones from excess pressure. However, such medical gear isn’t available for facial bone fractures, so extra precautions are necessary. Don’t lean or lie on the injured area to ensure proper alignment while reducing pain and inflammation.

Some exercises even cause unnecessary pressure, such as yoga poses requiring your face to be on the floor. Weight training also causes facial muscle tension, so it should be avoided.

Don’t blow your nose

Recent evidence shows that the pressure from blowing your nose could result in orbital fractures. Though rare, these studies prove how much pressure such a simple action puts on even healthy bones.

To avoid further damage after a facial bone fracture, experts don’t recommend blowing your nose until the fracture heals. Instead, they suggest using nasal spray to loosen clogged sinuses and gently wiping the nose.

Resources:

  1. Johns Hopkins Medicine, Facial Trauma
    https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/facial-trauma
  2. Cleveland Clinic, Facial Fractures
    https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16025-facial-fractures
  3. UW Health, Facial Fracture Care and Repair
    https://patient.uwhealth.org/healthfacts/6773
  4. Cleveland Clinic, RICE Method for Injury
    https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/rice-method
  5. Mass General Brigham, Jan. 13, 2025, The Best Foods for Bone Healing After a Fracture
    https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/about/newsroom/articles/best-foods-for-bone-healing-after-fracture
  6. PIADS, Soft Food List
    https://www.piads.org/surgical-instructions/food-list/
  7. Houston Methodist, Feb. 10, 2021, How to Heal Bones Faster
    https://www.houstonmethodist.org/blog/articles/2021/feb/how-to-heal-bones-faster/
  8. PubMed Central, Aug. 2023, Intracranial Hemorrhage and Facial Fractures After Nose Blowing and Sternutation: A Case Report
    https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10438946/
This article contains informational and educational materials and does not replace health or medical advice. For questions or concerns regarding your medical condition or health objectives, speak to a qualified physician or healthcare provider.