Recovering from facial lacerations

[ohnoesitstori]

So, my story takes place in a yet to be determined modern American city, and basically the main character ends up with a cut starting at the corner of his mouth and going about 2 inches across his cheek. It's done with a box-cutter in unhygienic conditions, and it will be several hours before he can get treatment for it. (Maybe longer? I'm not sure

Comments

[alassenya]

Oh I'm sorry, I didn't pick up that you actually wanted a visible scar. If that's the case, your attacker needs to use something that will create a very jagged wound that can't be stitched up easily - a coarse hacksaw or straight saw blade would be good (or one of those really cheap and coarse serrated steak knives you get in the supermarket). A really dirty blade/wound or a delay of 18hrs or more in getting medical care would also be useful, because then the wound is contaminated and can only be held loosely together rather than stitched closely, so that no anaerobic pockets are created, and that will create a wider and more prominent scar. If your attacker is using broken glass then you might get a double cut which actually removes some tissue (not your parallel line cut as above, that wouldn't remove enough tissue) - you really want to lose a chunk so that the skinfolds don't line up - that will give you a really nasty puckered scar. Depending on the size and amount of distortion to the cheek tissue, your victim may also end up with a slight change in speech, and in the worst case may have difficulty getting a proper seal with the lips, which would create a sore area at the corner (angular cheilitis or angular stomatitis).

I hope that helps.