A facial scar after a road accident is not just a visible mark: it can leave permanent damage, require further treatment and concretely affect daily life. I will explain which items can be included in the compensation, why a photograph alone is not enough and what role medical-legal assessment, age and responsibility in the dynamics of the accident play.
The most common doubt concerns the amount: does the position of the scar, its extension, its possible improvement with future treatments or personal discomfort matter? There is no fixed sum for every disfigurement. Instead, we will see which facts make it possible to distinguish a temporary injury from a permanent aftereffect, when the Milan Tables can guide the reasoning and when specific legislative criteria apply to road accidents.
The scar can constitute compensable damage to health
The compensable scar is a consequence of the accident that must be medically verified. In legal language, this is referred to as biological damage: it is the temporary or permanent prejudice to the psychophysical integrity of the person. For a facial injury, the assessment does not only concern the initial pain or the days of dressing, but also the mark that remains after healing.
The disfigurement can be relevant even if it does not limit facial movement. A visible scar can in fact affect exterior appearance and, depending on its characteristics, relations with others, personal safety or activities requiring public exposure. These effects are not all presumed in the same way. They must be linked to the concrete impairment and described without confusing damage to health with generic aesthetic dissatisfaction.
In cases of minor injuries, meaning up to 9 percent permanent disability, Article 139 of the Private Insurance Code governs the assessment of non-pecuniary damage in traffic accidents. The rule requires a medical-legal assessment and considers visual observation of objectively verifiable scars to be relevant as well. Article 139 of the Private Insurance Code.
However, visibility does not equal automatic compensation. The medical-legal expert must establish whether the scar constitutes a permanent aftereffect and to what extent; compensation also depends on responsibility for the accident. A small, easily concealable scar destined to improve may receive a different evaluation than a retracted, pigmented one or one located in a constantly exposed area of the face.
The medical-legal examination establishes whether the damage is temporary or permanent
The disability percentage does not stem solely from the subjective perception of the damage. The medical-legal evaluation describes the injury, verifies its stabilization and indicates permanent consequences. Stabilization means the moment when the scar has reached a sufficiently defined picture: it does not mean that it will never improve, but that the aftereffect can be reliably estimated.
Closing the claim too early can create a concrete problem. In the months following an injury, dermatological treatments, reconstructive plastic surgery, injections or other care aimed at reducing the scar outcome may intervene. Before a final definition, it is necessary to understand what treatment is still indicated and whether its cost, necessity and connection to the accident are documentable.
Health documentation is useful when it shows a precise fact. The emergency room report connects the wound to the accident; clinical records and reports describe suturing, dressings and interventions; photographs ordered chronologically make the evolution visible; a specialist report can clarify recommended treatments and prognosis. It is useless to accumulate irrelevant material: what counts is the continuity between accident, injury, care and aftereffect.
Temporary damage does not replace permanent damage
Treatment days and the residual scar are two different prejudices. Temporary incapacity concerns the period during which the injury concretely limits normal activities: it can be total or partial. Permanent damage instead concerns the mark or impairment that remains once the picture is stabilized. A liquidation that considers only the days of treatment may therefore fail to adequately include an ascertained cicatricial aftereffect.
Not even a successful treatment completely excludes compensation. If treatment significantly reduces the outcome, the evaluation must take this into account; if a permanent scar remains, its measure is estimated in the final picture. The correct question is not whether the face returns identical to before, but what residual impairment is demonstrable after appropriate care.
Which tables apply to facial injuries from accidents
The 9 percent threshold changes the assessment criterion. For permanent injuries up to 9 percent caused by the circulation of motor vehicles or watercraft, Article 139 provides a legislative table with values linked to disability points and the age of the injured person. The same provision allows the judge an increase of up to 20 percent when documented and objectively ascertained effects on specific personal aspects or particularly intense psychophysical suffering are found.
If permanent disability is from 10 to 100 percent, Article 138 of the Private Insurance Code instead refers to the Single National Table. The regulation that introduced it is Presidential Decree no. 12 of January 13, 2025, which entered into force on March 5, 2025. Presidential Decree no. 12 of January 13, 2025. The table values were then updated by decree of the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy on December 10, 2025, effective from April 2025. Update of the Single National Table.
Age affects economic value, not the severity of the scar. The impairment is estimated in percentage points by the medical-legal expert; the value to be attributed to the points also takes age into account. For this reason, two people with an equal percentage may not obtain the same sum. It is incorrect to take an isolated amount found online and multiply it without first identifying the applicable table, the reference year and all components of the damage.
The actual role of the Milan Tables
The Milan Tables are not an automatic tariff for every road accident. They are orientative criteria prepared by the Observatory on Civil Justice of Milan for the assessment of non-pecuniary damage. The edition published on the website of the Court of Milan is the one updated to January 1, 2024, and distinguishes average values, suffering component and possible customization for proven circumstances. Milanese tables 2024 on non-pecuniary damage.
For circulation damage subject to Articles 138 and 139 of the Private Insurance Code, legislative tables play a central role in their respective disability brackets. The Milan Tables therefore do not replace the Single National Table for injuries from 10 percent upwards, nor the rules on micro-disabilities up to 9 percent. They can remain a benchmark for comparison in contexts not covered by those special rules, but do not authorize the automatic addition of items already included in the assessment of non-pecuniary damage.
Customization requires specific consequences, not just the location of the scar
A facial scar can justify an increase only if additional and concrete consequences emerge. The location on the face is certainly an important medical-legal element, because it concerns an exposed part of the person. However, table values already consider the ordinary consequences of the estimated impairment. To request customization, it is necessary to identify what makes the case different from what is normally included in the standard value.
For example, the need for painful or invasive treatments, particularly intense suffering documented during the course of treatment, specific limitations in relationships or proven effects on personal activities may become relevant. It is not enough to attribute a separate aesthetic damage label to the scar and ask for a second sum for the same prejudice. Instead, one must explain what further consequence is not already expressed by the normal assessment of the disability percentage.
Any financial loss follows a different logic. Medical expenses, pharmacy costs, transportation expenses for treatment or future interventions can be claimed if they are necessary, appropriate and causally linked to the accident. Even a loss of income does not automatically derive from a visible scar: it must be shown what earnings were lost and why. The work performed may be relevant, but it does not alone transform a facial injury into economic damage.
Responsibility, contributory negligence and choice of insurance
The damage must derive from the accident and the other party must be liable for it in whole or in part. The health report proves the existence of the wound and aftereffect, but does not alone establish who caused the accident. To this end, dynamics, collected statements, any findings by authorities, vehicle damage, witnesses and any other element suitable for reconstructing the event count.
If the injured person contributed to producing the damage, compensation can be reduced in proportion to the established responsibility. The scar does not lose relevance because there is a dispute over the dynamics, but the percentage of responsibility affects the final sum. The position of a passenger, pedestrian or driver is different: each person's position can change both the assessment of responsibility and the insurance path to be used.
The claim is normally addressed to the company insuring the civil liability of the responsible vehicle; in cases subject to direct compensation procedure, one's own insurance company may be involved. Identifying the right recipient avoids avoidable delays. The procedure depends on the characteristics of the accident, the vehicles involved and the position of the injured person, which is why it is not advisable to use a standard form without adapting it to the facts.
How to formulate a claim without neglecting care and future expenses
The claim must allow the insurance to understand what happened, what damages emerged and what assessments remain necessary. At least accident data, known vehicles and coverages, reported injuries, treatments carried out and availability for a medical-legal examination must be indicated. If documented expenses already exist, they must be distinguished from personal injury and related supporting documents attached.
When future treatments are foreseen, it is preferable not to present them as a hypothetical figure. A specialist report should clarify what treatment is indicated, why it is linked to the scar, what cost it foresees and with what purpose. Future expense must be predictable and medically justified, not a simple abstract eventuality. The same criterion applies to any psychological support sessions: they are compensable if they are necessary and linked to the damage, not because every injury makes them automatically due.
Article 145 of the Private Insurance Code provides, for judicial action relating to personal injury, a waiting period of ninety days from the complete compensation request presented in the manner required by law. The deadline is not an invitation to wait passively. It serves to leave room for the insurance investigation and any offer, but in the meantime, it is important to keep clinical updates and not sign a final settlement if the medical picture is not yet stabilized.
To prepare an initial examination of the situation, it is useful to gather the accident form or report, available insurance data, reports in chronological order, dated photographs of the injury and expense receipts. If an agreement has been proposed, its text is also decisive. A release receipt can affect future damages, depending on how it is formulated and when it is signed.
Frequently asked questions
Can I claim compensation even if the scar is small?
Yes, if the scar constitutes medically ascertainable damage. A small injury can receive a mild assessment, but it is not irrelevant just because of its size. Visibility, characteristics, stability of the outcome and connection to the accident matter. For micro-disabilities, the criteria of Article 139 of the Private Insurance Code apply.
Are facial photographs sufficient to obtain compensation?
Photographs help, but do not replace the medical-legal assessment. They are useful for documenting the evolution of the wound and the visibility of the scar, especially if dated and ordered over time. However, they must be flanked by reports, clinical records and medical evaluation connecting the aftereffect to the accident and estimating any disability.
Do the Milan Tables always apply to accident scars?
No, not always. In road accidents subject to the Private Insurance Code, Article 139 operates for disabilities up to 9 percent; from 10 percent, the Single National Table provided by Article 138 operates. The Milan Tables are important orientative criteria, but do not automatically replace the special rules provided for these injuries.
Can I be reimbursed for an intervention to improve the scar?
Yes, if the intervention is necessary, appropriate and linked to the accident. A generic estimate is not enough: a specialist report indicating the treatment, its clinical reason, cost and possible result is useful. The fact that the intervention improves without completely eliminating the scar does not in itself exclude reimbursement of the expense.
Should I immediately accept the insurance offer?
No, especially if the clinical picture is not yet defined. Before accepting, it is necessary to understand what damages and expenses the offer covers and whether the scar is stabilized. A release receipt can close the matter even with respect to future consequences. If you want to clarify the content of a proposal before signing it, you can contact me.
Institutional references used
Sources help correctly place the claim. For micro-disabilities from road accidents, Article 139 of the Private Insurance Code is relevant. For disabilities from 10 to 100 percent, the reference is the Single National Table introduced by Presidential Decree no. 12 of 2025, updated by the decree of December 10, 2025. The Milan Tables published by the Court instead remain an orientative reference to be read in their correct scope.