Can You Break Your Cheek Bone? Signs And Treatment

Yes, you can break your cheekbone. The cheekbone — doctors call it the zygomatic bone — is one of the most commonly fractured bones in the face. A hard impact from a fall, a car crash, a punch, or a ball to the face can crack it or push it out of position. The signs include swelling, pain, bruising, and sometimes a change in how your face looks or feels. Any suspected facial fracture needs medical evaluation, because the cheekbone sits close to your eye and can affect your vision.

What Is the Cheekbone and Why Does It Break Easily?

The cheekbone is the bony ridge you feel under your eye and out toward the side of your face. It is not a flat plate. It is a bridge of bone that connects your upper jaw, your forehead bone, and the side of your skull.

That structure matters. The cheekbone forms the outer wall and floor of your eye socket. It also protects the nerves and muscles that let you open your mouth and feel your face. Because it sticks out, it takes the first hit in many facial injuries.

When force hits the cheekbone, the bone often breaks in more than one place. Surgeons call this a zygomaticomaxillary complex fracture, or ZMC fracture. The bone can crack at the cheek, near the eye, and along the arch toward your ear. Sometimes the bone stays in place. Sometimes it gets pushed inward, which is where the serious problems start.

What Are the Signs of a Broken Cheekbone?

The most reliable signs are swelling over the cheek, bruising, and pain when you touch the area or open your mouth wide. Swelling often appears within hours and can be significant. Bruising may show up under the eye or on the cheek itself.

Some signs point to a more serious injury and should push you to get seen quickly:

• Double vision, or seeing two images when you look in certain directions
• Numbness or a “pins and needles” feeling on the cheek, upper lip, side of the nose, or upper teeth on one side
• A flattened or sunken cheek compared with the other side
• Trouble opening your mouth fully, or pain when you chew
• Blood in the white part of the eye, or bruising around the eye
• An eye that sits lower or looks different from the other one

The numbness is worth explaining. A nerve called the infraorbital nerve runs through a channel in the cheekbone and supplies feeling to the cheek, upper lip, and upper front teeth. When the bone breaks or shifts, it can pinch or injure that nerve. Numbness in that specific pattern is a meaningful clue that the bone may be fractured.

Not every broken cheekbone looks dramatic. Some people have a crack with the bone still in normal position and only mild swelling. Others have a bone pushed inward with obvious changes. The severity of your symptoms does not always match the severity of the break, which is why imaging matters.

When Should You Get Medical Help?

Get medical attention the same day for any facial injury that causes vision changes, numbness, a noticeable change in the shape of your face, or trouble opening your mouth. These are not symptoms to watch at home.

Go to an emergency department right away if you have:

• Any change in vision, including double vision
• An eye that seems to be sinking or bulging
• Severe pain that is getting worse
• Heavy bleeding
• Confusion, vomiting, or loss of consciousness after a head injury

Those last signs could point to a head injury or bleeding inside the skull, which is a separate and more urgent concern than the cheekbone itself. Facial fractures and head injuries often happen together after a major impact.

For milder injuries — a bump with swelling but no vision changes, no numbness, and no change in face shape — it is still reasonable to call your doctor or a dentist. A dentist can be a good first contact because cheek and jaw injuries often affect the teeth and bite.

How Is a Broken Cheekbone Diagnosed?

Diagnosis starts with a physical exam. A doctor will look at your face from the front and from above, feeling for steps in the bone and comparing both sides. They will check your eye movements, your vision, and the feeling in your cheek and upper lip. They may ask you to open your mouth to see whether the jaw moves normally.

Imaging confirms the diagnosis. A CT scan is the standard test for facial fractures because it shows the bone in three dimensions and reveals whether the eye socket is involved. Plain X-rays are used less often now because they miss many cheekbone fractures that a CT scan would catch.

If there is any question about your vision or the eye itself, an eye doctor may be brought in. The eye sits in a socket partly built by the cheekbone, so the two are checked together.

How Is a Broken Cheekbone Treated?

Treatment depends on whether the bone has moved out of place and whether it is causing problems with your vision, your bite, or the shape of your face. Not every fracture needs surgery.

Fractures that have not moved are often managed without an operation. This typically means rest, ice in the first day or two, pain relief, and avoiding pressure on the cheek. Your doctor will likely want to see you again to confirm the bone stays in place as swelling goes down. Some clinicians also advise a soft diet for a period while the bone settles, though guidance on this varies.

Fractures that have moved often need surgery, especially if the bone is pushed in, if it is trapping a muscle that limits mouth opening, if it is pressing on the eye, or if it is causing double vision. The operation is usually done by a specialist such as an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, a plastic surgeon, or an ear, nose, and throat surgeon.

During surgery, the surgeon moves the bone back into position and holds it there with small plates and screws. These plates are usually left in permanently unless they cause problems. The surgery is often done through a cut inside the mouth or hidden in the eyelid or eyebrow, so scars are limited.

Recovery timelines vary by person and by the extent of the injury. Swelling usually improves over the first week or two, but some residual swelling can last longer. Bone healing generally takes several weeks. Your surgeon will give you specific guidance on activity, diet, and follow-up. No single timeline fits everyone, so treat general figures as a rough guide rather than a promise.

What Are the Risks of Leaving It Untreated?

An untreated cheekbone fracture that has shifted can cause lasting problems. The bone may heal in the wrong position, leaving a flattened cheek or a change in facial symmetry. That can be cosmetic, but it can also affect how your jaw works.

More seriously, a fracture that involves the eye socket can change the position of the eye or trap tissue and muscle. This can cause persistent double vision or limit eye movement. In some cases the eye can sit lower or appear sunken.

Nerve injury is another concern. If the infraorbital nerve is damaged, numbness in the cheek, lip, or teeth may last for months or become permanent. Early treatment gives the best chance of recovery, though nerve healing is never guaranteed.

This is why facial injuries with warning signs should not be ignored. The cheekbone is not just a cosmetic feature. It protects your eye and supports normal chewing and facial sensation.

Can You Prevent a Broken Cheekbone?

You cannot prevent every facial injury, but some steps lower the risk. Wearing a seatbelt correctly in a car is one of the most effective. Wearing a helmet and face protection in contact sports, cycling, and activities like skateboarding also helps.

For people who play sports where facial contact is common, a mouthguard and a face shield offer some protection, though no gear eliminates risk entirely. If you have been drinking or are tired, avoid situations where falls are more likely. Most facial fractures happen during everyday moments — a fall, a car crash, a fight — rather than in controlled settings.

If you do take a hit to the face, watch for the warning signs over the next several hours. Swelling can build. Numbness may appear after the initial shock wears off. Getting checked early is safer than waiting to see if it gets better.