How Much Is a Facial Injury Worth in Ireland? 2026 Compensation Brackets and What Moves Your Award

Summary: A facial injury in Ireland is worth between €500 and €200,000 in general damages, depending on the type of injury and how it affects you. Facial scarring runs from €500 for minor marks to €200,000 for the most severe disfigurement under Chapter 9 of the Personal Injuries Guidelines (Judicial Council, 2021). Facial fractures and dental damage have their own brackets. These are the 2021 figures, which still apply today. The single factor that moves a facial award most is the documented psychological reaction to the injury.

What is a facial injury worth in Ireland?

A facial injury in Ireland is worth between €500 and €200,000 in general damages, set by the type and severity of the injury under the Personal Injuries Guidelines. General damages cover pain, suffering and the effect on your appearance and life. On top of that, special damages cover your financial losses, such as surgery, scar treatment and lost earnings, and these are not capped.

Three things decide the figure: which Guidelines bracket your injury falls into, where you sit within that bracket, and what financial losses you can prove. The brackets below come straight from Chapter 9 of the Guidelines (Judicial Council, 2021), which the Injuries Resolution Board and the courts must follow.

Facial injury compensation at a glance

Use this table as a quick guide, then read the detailed brackets below. It maps each facial injury type to its typical range and the one factor that moves the figure most. Every range is general damages under the 2021 Personal Injuries Guidelines.

Special damages (surgery, treatment, lost earnings) are added on top, and any contributory negligence is deducted. Ranges are guidelines, not a quote for your case.

What facial injury claimants actually receive: the IRB data

There is no published average payout for a facial injury in Ireland. The Injuries Resolution Board (IRB) reports award values by injury type, but facial injury is not one of its tracked categories. It sits inside the catch-all "Other" group, alongside the neck, back, shoulder, knee, ankle, wrist and psychiatric categories it does track. So any site quoting an "average facial injury payout" is estimating, because the official figure does not exist.

The Board's wider data still sets useful expectations. In the first half of 2025, the IRB assessed over 4,300 claims. The median award was €13,300 and the average was €19,343, according to the Injuries Resolution Board Award Values report (H1 2025). Across all injury types, 76% of claims were classified as minor, 20% as moderate and only 4% as severe. Facial scarring at the serious or severe level therefore sits in the top few per cent of awards by value.

One data point shows where scarring awards can reach. The highest public-liability award the IRB made in the first half of 2025 was €134,892, and it related to scarring, in that case non-facial. Facial scarring is valued under the higher Chapter 9A brackets, not the lower non-facial scarring chapter. A serious facial injury therefore sits firmly at the upper end of the Irish award range.

Facial scarring and disfigurement compensation brackets

Facial scarring sits in Chapter 9A and is valued across five tiers. The brackets are deliberately wide because, in the words of the Guidelines, assessing damages for facial disfigurement is an unusually difficult task. The 2021 Guidelines removed the old distinction between awards for men and women, so value now turns on severity, age and psychological impact rather than gender.

Facial burns that leave scarring or disfigurement are assessed for that disfigurement, so a serious facial burn can fall within these same brackets. The most severe facial burns often sit at the very top of the range or above it.

Facial fracture compensation brackets (nose, cheekbone, jaw, Le Fort)

Broken facial bones are valued under Chapter 9B, separately from scarring. The figure depends on whether surgery was needed and whether you are left with permanent deformity, numbness or functional problems such as difficulty eating or breathing.

An eye-socket or orbital fracture is valued partly under the senses chapter where vision is affected. Loss of sight in one eye runs from €80,000 to €120,000 under Chapter 5A of the Guidelines. Serious but incomplete loss of vision in one eye runs from €45,000 to €70,000.

Dental and tooth damage compensation brackets

Damaged or lost teeth have their own brackets and can overlap with jaw fractures. Chronic pain or drawn-out dental treatment increases the award.

What decides how much your facial injury is worth

Two injuries in the same bracket can settle for very different amounts. The Guidelines list the factors a judge or assessor weighs, and these are the levers that move you up or down within a bracket.

• Permanence and visibility. A permanent scar visible at conversational distance is worth far more than one that fades or can be covered.
• Age. Younger claimants facing decades with a visible injury tend to sit higher in the bracket.
• Psychological reaction. A documented psychiatric injury, such as adjustment disorder or post-traumatic stress, lifts the award, sometimes above the bracket entirely.
• Treatment. The nature, extent and duration of treatment, including the number of surgeries, all count.
• Effect on work and life. Impact on a public-facing career, relationships and social activities is taken into account.

How a scar is measured matters too. A consultant plastic surgeon's medico-legal report usually grades a scar using a recognised scale, most often the Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS) or the older Vancouver Scar Scale. These score colour, thickness, texture and patient-reported symptoms such as pain and itch. A report that documents a high score on a recognised scale carries real weight. Where it also confirms the scar is visible at conversational distance, it places the injury in the serious bracket rather than the moderate one.

A real example shows how these combine. In Power v Malone [2023] IEHC 366, an 18-year-old passenger left with a permanent temple scar had her facial scarring (the dominant injury) valued at €60,000, the top of the serious bracket. With a €30,000 uplift for non-dominant injuries (including wrist scarring and an adjustment disorder) plus special damages, the total award was €107,596. That total was reduced by 20% to €86,076 because she had not worn a seatbelt. Age, the permanence of a visible facial scar and the career impact all pushed the facial-scar figure to the top of the serious bracket. Contributory negligence then brought the overall award down.

Real Irish facial injury awards: what courts have actually paid

Brackets show the range. Decided cases show where real facial injuries land inside it. The awards below are from Irish court judgments since the 2021 Guidelines, and they show how age, career impact and scar visibility move the figure. General damages are the pain-and-suffering element only, before special damages and any contributory-negligence reduction.

Awards are illustrative of how the brackets are applied, not a prediction for any other case. Court awards turn on their own medical evidence and facts. Figures should be confirmed against the judgments on courts.ie or the official law reports.

Facial scarring vs facial fractures: how the brackets differ

Scarring and fractures are valued on different things. A facial scar is judged mainly on how it looks and the psychological reaction to it. Two people with similar scars can be valued very differently depending on the documented emotional impact. A facial fracture is judged mainly on deformity and function, such as whether your jaw still works normally or whether numbness is permanent.

Many facial injuries involve both at once. A car crash can fracture a cheekbone and leave a scar, and a serious assault can break a jaw and damage teeth. Where that happens, the injuries are valued together under the multiple-injuries rule explained further down, not simply added together.

Why the psychological impact often decides the figure

The psychological reaction is the most important and most contested factor in facial claims. The Guidelines expressly allow a severe psychological reaction to push a disfigurement award to the top of the bracket or above it. Because the face is always on show, the emotional effect of a visible scar is frequently the largest single driver of value.

The moderate bracket carries an unspoken ceiling: the response of an ordinarily sensitive person. Defence insurers often argue that distress about a scar is ordinary upset, keeping the award capped at €30,000. To reach the serious or severe brackets, a claimant usually needs a formal psychiatric report. That report identifies a recognised condition, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, an adjustment disorder or clinical depression. The psychiatric brackets themselves run from €500 to €170,000 under Chapter 4 of the Guidelines, and a documented reaction can also raise the overall facial award.

Special damages: the part most people miss

General damages are capped by the Guidelines. Special damages are not. Because the 2021 Guidelines reduced general damages for many injuries, special damages now make up a larger share of total compensation in serious facial claims. These are your real, vouched financial losses, and you need receipts and reports to recover them.

In facial claims they often include scar revision surgery, ongoing laser treatment, medical-grade silicone gel sheets, and medical camouflage makeup, both now and into the future. They also include lost earnings. Past loss of earnings is calculated net of tax. Future loss matters most where disfigurement forces someone out of a public-facing role. It is worked out with actuarial evidence and a discount for the ordinary uncertainties of life. Keeping every receipt and a record of each appointment is what turns these losses into a recoverable figure.

How multiple injuries are added up (worked example)

Multiple injuries are not simply added together. The law avoids over-compensating for pain that overlaps in time. The assessor identifies the dominant injury, values that from its bracket, then adds a reduced uplift for the additional injuries so the total is fair and proportionate. The Irish courts set out this roll-up approach in cases such as Lipinski (A Minor) v Whelan [2022] IEHC 452 and McHugh v Ferol [2023] IEHC 132.

Here is how the maths works in practice. Say a car crash leaves you with a serious facial scar and a moderate wrist fracture.

• Step 1, value the dominant injury. The facial scar is the dominant injury at, for example, €50,000 in the serious bracket.
• Step 2, value the secondary injury alone. The wrist fracture might be worth €20,000 on its own.
• Step 3, add an uplift, not the full amount. Instead of adding the full €20,000, the court adds a reduced uplift, perhaps €8,000 to €10,000, to reflect the extra suffering without double-counting.
• Result. A total around €58,000 to €60,000 in general damages, not €70,000.

This is why a realistic estimate needs all of your injuries assessed together, not added up in isolation. In Power v Malone, the court treated the facial scar as the dominant injury and the wrist scarring as an uplift, rather than valuing the two separately.

What reduces or adds to your final figure

Your final figure is the general damages bracket, plus special damages, minus any contributory-negligence reduction. Three adjustments decide the real number you receive, and they explain why two people with the same injury can be paid very differently.

Contributory negligence is the most common reduction. If you were partly responsible for your own injury, the court reduces your award by a percentage. Not wearing a seatbelt is the classic example. In Power v Malone, the award was cut by 20% for that reason, so €107,596 became €86,076. The reduction reflects your share of the blame, not the value of the injury itself.

Special damages are added on top and are not capped. Surgery, scar revision, laser treatment, psychological treatment and lost earnings all increase the total, sometimes well beyond the general damages figure in serious cases.

A claimant might also face an actuarial discount on any future loss of earnings, which accounts for the ordinary uncertainties of life. The point is that the headline bracket is rarely the final number, in either direction.

When a facial injury becomes a medical negligence claim

If your facial injury was caused by medical or surgical care, it is a medical negligence claim, not a standard injury claim. These claims do not go through the Injuries Resolution Board. Under Section 3(d) of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act 2003, claims arising from a medical procedure are exempt from the Board. The clock is only stopped by issuing court proceedings, so filing with the Board by mistake can leave a valid claim time-barred.

This route covers botched cosmetic surgery, a negligently performed rhinoplasty, dermal filler injuries, missed or mismanaged facial fractures, and dental negligence such as a negligent extraction that fractures the jaw. Who you sue depends on where the care was given. If the negligence happened in a public hospital or other HSE setting, the claim is against the HSE and is defended and settled by the State Claims Agency. If it arose in private care, such as a private cosmetic clinic, dental surgery or filler practitioner, the claim is against that practitioner or clinic and is handled by their medical indemnifier. To succeed, you must meet the standard set in Dunne v National Maternity Hospital [1989] IR 91. The test asks whether no competent practitioner of equal standing would have acted as the defendant did. Cosmetic cases also turn on informed consent, following Geoghegan v Harris [2000] 3 IR 536, where a failure to warn of a material risk of disfigurement is itself a breach.

The general damages brackets are the same, but the evidence needed is far heavier, usually an independent expert report from a specialist of equal standing. We explain this route in our guides to cosmetic surgery negligence claims and how medical negligence compensation is valued.

Have facial injury amounts gone up with the 16.7% increase?

No. The 16.7% increase was proposed by the Judicial Council and endorsed by its members in early 2025, but it was never put to a vote in the Oireachtas, so it has not taken effect. Facial injuries are still assessed at the 2021 figures set out above. The Personal Injuries Guidelines were confirmed as binding by the Supreme Court in Delaney v Personal Injuries Assessment Board [2024] IESC 10, which is why these brackets carry such weight.

Reform is moving slowly. The General Scheme of the Judicial Council (Amendment) Bill 2026 would change the review cycle from three years to five. It would also require consultation with the Injuries Resolution Board before any future change. We track the position on our dedicated page on the 2026 update to the Personal Injuries Guidelines.

How a facial injury claim works, from the Injuries Resolution Board to court

For a facial injury caused by a road traffic accident, a fall in a public place or a workplace incident, the claim starts at the Injuries Resolution Board. Submitting your application also pauses the two-year time limit while the Board considers the claim.

1. Get medical treatment and a diagnosis. Your records are the foundation of the claim.
2. Apply to the Injuries Resolution Board. This stops the clock on the two-year limit for standard injury claims.
3. Wait for the scar to mature. Scars take 12 to 18 months to settle, and timing the medical report around this protects the value of the claim.
4. Obtain expert reports. A consultant plastic surgeon's report, and a psychiatric report where the emotional impact is significant.
5. Assessment or court. The Board assesses many claims, but where it cannot, it issues an authorisation allowing the claim to proceed to court.

Where psychological injury is a significant part of a facial claim, the Board may decline to assess it and authorise the claim for court instead. Serious disfigurement claims often realise their full value there.

Common causes of facial injury claims we see

Facial injuries reach us from a range of incidents, and the cause shapes both the route and the evidence.

• Road traffic accidents. Glass lacerations, airbag friction burns and impact fractures. We cover these in detail in our car accident scarring and disfigurement guide.
• Assaults. Facial scarring and fractures from a physical assault, which may also be pursued through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme.
• Dog bites. Facial bites, especially to children, often leaving permanent scarring under the Control of Dogs Act 1986.
• Falls in public places. Facial injuries from a fall on unsafe premises, covered in our public liability scarring claims guide.
• Workplace accidents. Facial trauma from machinery, falling objects or chemical exposure.

Is it worth claiming for a minor facial scar?

It depends on whether the scar is permanent and how much it affects you. A minor scar that fades or can be covered usually sits in the €500 to €7,000 band, so the value may be modest once you weigh up the effort. A scar that stays visible, causes ongoing distress, or affects your work is worth taking seriously, because it can move into much higher brackets and carry significant special damages.

Three things make a claim more likely to be worthwhile. Check whether the scar has settled and stayed visible after 12 to 18 months. Consider whether it has affected your confidence, social life or job, and whether there were other injuries in the same incident. If any of these apply, a claim is more likely to be worth pursuing. If the scar has fully healed and caused little disruption, the realistic value may be small. A short, no-obligation conversation will usually tell you where you stand before you commit to anything.

How we help with facial injury claims

We are Dublin personal injury and medical negligence solicitors, and facial injuries are one of the areas where the right evidence makes the biggest difference to value. In our experience, the gap between an early insurer offer and a properly evidenced claim is widest in facial cases. The psychological impact and future treatment costs are so easily understated.

We help you gather the medical and psychiatric reports that place your injury in the correct bracket. We time the claim around scar maturation and identify the special damages that are often overlooked. If your injury arose from clinical care, we deal with it as a medical negligence claim from the outset. For a plain-English view of your options, you can request a free, no-obligation case assessment.

Common questions

References

1. Personal Injuries Guidelines, Judicial Council (Adopted March 2021) [Chapter 9 Facial Injuries, Chapter 4 Psychiatric, Chapter 5 Senses].
2. Injuries Resolution Board, Making a Claim (Updated 2026).
3. Injuries Resolution Board, Personal Injuries Award Values Report H1 2025 (Updated 2025) [median award €13,300, average €19,343, severity distribution 76/20/4].
4. Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act 2003 (Updated 2026) [Section 3(d) medical exemption, Section 50 limitation].
5. Statute of Limitations (Amendment) Act 1991 (Updated 2026) [date of knowledge].
6. General Scheme of the Judicial Council (Amendment) Bill 2026, Houses of the Oireachtas (Updated 2026).
7. Power v Malone [2023] IEHC 366, Irish Legal News (2023) [facial scarring award, contributory negligence].
8. Delaney v Personal Injuries Assessment Board [2024] IESC 10, Irish Legal News (2024) [Guidelines legally binding].
9. Courts Service of Ireland, Judgments (Updated 2026) [Lipinski (A Minor) v Whelan [2022] IEHC 452, McHugh v Ferol [2023] IEHC 132, Dunne v National Maternity Hospital [1989] IR 91, Geoghegan v Harris [2000] 3 IR 536].

Internal guides: Compensation amounts · Public liability scarring · Medical negligence compensation · 2026 Guidelines update

This is general information, not legal advice. Every facial injury claim depends on its own facts, and compensation amounts vary from case to case. The bracket figures are guidelines only and are not a promise of any particular outcome. Consult a qualified solicitor for advice on your specific situation.