Symptoms of a broken nose include bruising, swelling, tenderness, pain, deformity, and/or bleeding of the nose and nasal region of the face. The patient may have difficulty breathing, or excessive nosebleeds (if the nasal mucosa are damaged). The patient may also have bruising around one or both eyes.

A nasal fracture, commonly referred to as a broken nose, is a fracture of one of the bones of the nose. Symptoms may include bleeding, swelling, bruising, and an inability to breath through the nose. They may be complicated by other facial fractures or a septal hematoma.

The most common causes include assault, trauma during sports, falls, and motor vehicle collisions. Diagnosis is typically based on the signs and symptoms and may occasionally be confirmed by plain X-ray.

Treatment is typically with pain medication and cold compresses. Reduction, if needed, can typically occur after the swelling has come down. Depending on the type of fracture reduction may be closed or open. Outcomes are generally good. Nasal fractures are common, comprising about 40% of facial fractures. Males in their 20s are most commonly affected.

By far, the two most common symptoms described are pain and the feeling that teeth no longer correctly meet (traumatic malocclusion, or disocclusion). The teeth are very sensitive to pressure (proprioception), so even a small change in the location of the teeth will generate this sensation. People will also be very sensitive to touching the area of the jaw that is broken, or in the case of condylar fracture the area just in front of the tragus of the ear.

Other symptoms may include loose teeth (teeth on either side of the fracture will feel loose because the fracture is mobile), numbness (because the inferior alveolar nerve runs along the jaw and can be compressed by a fracture) and trismus (difficulty opening the mouth).

Outside the mouth, signs of swelling, bruising and deformity can all be seen. Condylar fractures are deep, so it is rare to see significant swelling although, the trauma can cause fracture of the bone on the anterior aspect of the external auditory meatus so bruising or bleeding can sometimes be seen in the ear canal. Mouth opening can be diminished (less than 3 cm). There can be numbness or altered sensation (anesthesia/paraesthesia in the chin and lower lip (the distribution of the mental nerve).

Intraorally, if the fracture occurs in the tooth bearing area, a step may seen between the teeth on either side of the fracture or a space can be seen (often mistaken for a lost tooth) and bleeding from the gingiva in the area. There can be an open bite where the lower teeth, no longer meet the upper teeth. In the case of a unilateral condylar fracture the back teeth on the side of the fracture will meet and the open bite will get progressively greater towards the other side of the mouth.

Sometimes bruising will develop in the floor of the mouth (sublingual eccymosis) and the fracture can be moved by moving either side of the fracture segment up and down. For fractures that occur in the non-tooth bearing area (condyle, ramus, and sometimes the angle) an open bite is an important clinical feature since little else, other than swelling, may be apparent.

Fractures of facial bones, like other fractures, may be associated with pain, bruising, and swelling of the surrounding tissues (such symptoms can occur in the absence of fractures as well). Fractures of the nose, base of the skull, or maxilla may be associated with profuse nosebleeds. Nasal fractures may be associated with deformity of the nose, as well as swelling and bruising. Deformity in the face, for example a sunken cheekbone or teeth which do not align properly, suggests the presence of fractures. Asymmetry can suggest facial fractures or damage to nerves. People with mandibular fractures often have pain and difficulty opening their mouths and may have numbness in the lip and chin. With Le Fort fractures, the midface may move relative to the rest of the face or skull.

This type of fractured mandible can involve one condyle (unilateral) or both (bilateral). Unilateral condylar fracture may cause restricted and painful jaw movement. There may be swelling over the temporomandibular joint region and bleeding from the ear because of lacerations to the external auditory meatus. The hematoma may spread downwards and backwards behind the ear, which may be confused with Battle's sign (a sign of a base of skull fracture), although this is an uncommon finding so if present, intra-cranial injury must be ruled out. If the bones fracture and overlie each other there may be shortening of the height of the ramus. This results in gagging of the teeth on the fractured side (the teeth meet too soon on the fractured side, and not on the non fractured side, i.e. "open bite" that becomes progressively worse to the unaffected side). When the mouth is opened, there may be deviation of the mandible towards the fractured side. Bilateral condylar fractures may cause the above signs and symptoms, but on both sides. Malocclusion and restricted jaw movement are usually more severe. Bilateral body or parasymphysis fractures are sometimes termed "flail mandible", and can cause involuntary posterior movement of the tongue with subsequent obstruction of the upper airway. Displacement of the condyle through the roof of glenoid fossa and into the middle cranial fossa is rare. Bilateral condylar fractures combined with a symphyseal fracture is sometimes termed a guardsman's fracture. The name comes from this injury occurring in soldiers who faint on parade grounds and strike the floor with their chin.

Lefort I - Slight swelling of the upper lip, ecchymosis is present in the buccal sulcus beneath each zygomatic arch, malocclusion, mobility of teeth. Impacted type of fractures may be almost immobile and it is only by grasping the maxillary teeth and applying a little firm pressure that a characteristic grate can be felt which is diagnostic of the fracture. Percussion of upper teeth results in cracked pot sound. Guérin's sign is present characterised by ecchymosis in the region of greater palatine vessels.

Lefort II and Lefort III (common) - Gross edema of soft tissue over the middle third of the face, bilateral circumorbital ecchymosis, bilateral subconjunctival hemorrhage, epistaxis, CSF rhinorrhoea, dish face deformity, diplopia, enophthalmos, cracked pot sound.

Lefort II - Step deformity at infraorbital margin, mobile mid face, anesthesia or paresthesia of cheek.

Lefort III - Tenderness and separation at frontozygomatic suture, lengthening of face, depression of ocular levels (enophthalmos), hooding of eyes, and tilting of occlusal plane, an imaginary curved plane between the edges of the incisors and the tips of the posterior teeth. As a result, there is gagging on the side of injury.

The symptoms are pain and tenderness in the specific location of the hand, which corresponds to the metacarpal bone around the knuckle. When a fracture occurs, there may be a snapping or popping sensation. There will be swelling of the hand along with discoloration or bruising in the affected area. Abrasions or lacerations of the hand are also likely to occur. The respective finger may be misaligned, and movement of that finger may be limited and painful.

Facial trauma, also called maxillofacial trauma, is any physical trauma to the face. Facial trauma can involve soft tissue injuries such as burns, lacerations and bruises, or fractures of the facial bones such as nasal fractures and fractures of the jaw, as well as trauma such as eye injuries. Symptoms are specific to the type of injury; for example, fractures may involve pain, swelling, loss of function, or changes in the shape of facial structures.

Facial injuries have the potential to cause disfigurement and loss of function; for example, blindness or difficulty moving the jaw can result. Although it is seldom life-threatening, facial trauma can also be deadly, because it can cause severe bleeding or interference with the airway; thus a primary concern in treatment is ensuring that the airway is open and not threatened so that the patient can breathe. Depending on the type of facial injury, treatment may include bandaging and suturing of open wounds, administration of ice, antibiotics and pain killers, moving bones back into place, and surgery. When fractures are suspected, radiography is used for diagnosis. Treatment may also be necessary for other injuries such as traumatic brain injury, which commonly accompany severe facial trauma.

In developed countries, the leading cause of facial trauma used to be motor vehicle accidents, but this mechanism has been replaced by interpersonal violence; however auto accidents still predominate as the cause in developing countries and are still a major cause elsewhere. Thus prevention efforts include awareness campaigns to educate the public about safety measures such as seat belts and motorcycle helmets, and laws to prevent drunk and unsafe driving. Other causes of facial trauma include falls, industrial accidents, and sports injuries.

Diagnosis is suspected by physical exam and history, in which, classically, the hard and soft palate of the midface are mobile with respect to the remainder of facial structures. This finding can be inconsistent due to the midfacial bleeding and swelling that typically accompany such injuries, and so confirmation is usually needed by radiograph or CT.

As these are colloquial terms, texts and medical dictionaries do not universally agree on precise meanings. Various authorities state that a "boxer's fracture" means a break in specifically the second metacarpal bone or third metacarpal bone, with "bar room fracture" being specific to the fourth metacarpal bone or fifth metacarpal bone. Though some writers assert that boxer's fracture and bar room fracture are distinct terms representing injuries to different bones, this distinction seems to have been lost and most medical professionals now describe any metacarpal fracture as a "boxer's fracture" .

Signs and symptoms include crepitus (a crunching sound made when broken bone ends rub together), pain, tenderness, bruising, and swelling over the fracture site. The fracture may visibly move when the person breathes, and it may be bent or deformed, potentially forming a "step" at the junction of the broken bone ends that is detectable by palpation. Associated injuries such as those to the heart may cause symptoms such as abnormalities seen on electrocardiograms.

The upper and middle parts of the sternum are those most likely to fracture, but most sternal fractures occur below the sternal angle.

Symptoms include: Short duration pain on biting, sensitivity to temperature change. Fracture lines may be visibly evident. Transillumination may reveal unseen fractures. Radiographic changes such as radiolucencies in the region of the fracture may be seen.

Even though symptoms vary widely after experiencing a bone fracture, the most common fracture symptoms include:

- pain in the fractured area

- swelling in the fractured area

- obvious deformity in the fractured area

- not being able to use or move the fractured area in a normal manner

- bruising, warmth, or redness in the fractured area

People usually present with a history of an injury and localized pain. There is often a deformity in the wrist with associated swelling. Numbness of the hand can occur because of compression on the median nerve across the wrist (carpal tunnel syndrome). The wrist deformity often limits motion of the fingers.

Individuals with Jefferson fractures usually experience pain in the upper neck but no neurological signs. The fracture may also cause damage to the arteries in the neck, resulting in lateral medullary syndrome, Horner's syndrome, ataxia, and the inability to sense pain or temperature.

In rare cases, congenital abnormality may cause the same symptoms as a Jefferson fracture.

Swelling, deformity, tenderness and loss of wrist motion are normal features on examination of a person with a distal radius fracture. Examination should rule out a skin wound which might suggest an open fracture. It is imperative to check for loss of sensation, loss of circulation to the hand, and more proximal injuries to the forearm, elbow and shoulder. The most common associated neurological finding is decreased sensation over the thenar eminence due to associated median nerve injury.

A classic "dinner fork" deformity may be seen in dorsally angulated fractures due to dorsal displacement of the carpus. The reverse deformity may be seen in volarly angulated fractures.

Some clinically observed signs and symptoms include:

- Orbital pain

- Eyes displaced posteriorly into sockets (enophthalmos)

- Limitation of eye movement

- Loss of sensation (hypoesthesia) along the trigeminal (V2) nerve distribution

- Seeing-double when looking up or down (vertical diplopia)

- Orbital and lid subcutaneous emphysema, especially when blowing the nose or sneezing

- Nausea and bradycardia due to oculocardiac reflex

After a humerus fracture, pain is immediate, enduring, and exacerbated with the slightest movements. The affected region swells, with bruising appearing a day or two after the fracture. The fracture is typically accompanied by a discoloration of the skin at the site of the fracture. A crackling or rattling sound may also be present, caused by the fractured humerus pressing against itself. In cases in which the nerves are affected, then there will be a loss of control or sensation in the arm below the fracture. If the fracture affects the blood supply, then the patient will have a diminished pulse at the wrist. Displaced fractures of the humerus shaft will often cause deformity and a shortening of the length of the upper arm. Distal fractures may also cause deformity, and they typically limit the ability to flex the elbow.

As with other types of fractures, scapular fracture may be associated with pain localized to the area of the fracture, tenderness, swelling, and crepitus (the crunching sound of bone ends grinding together). Since scapular fractures impair the motion of the shoulder, a person with a scapular fracture has a reduced ability to move the shoulder joint. Signs and symptoms may be masked by other injuries that accompany the scapular fracture.

On physical exam, the fracture appears as a loss of cheek projection with increased width of the face. In most cases, there is loss of sensation in the cheek and upper lip due to infraorbital nerve injury. Facial bruising, periorbital ecchymosis, soft tissue gas, swelling, trismus, altered mastication, diplopia, and ophthalmoplegia are other indirect features of the injury. The zygomatic arch usually fractures at its weakest point, 1.5 cm behind the zygomaticotemporal suture.

A history of a broken bone is usually apparent. The patient complains of persistent pain at the fracture site and may also notice abnormal movement or clicking at the level of the fracture. An x-ray plate of the fractured bone shows a persistent radiolucent line at the fracture. Callus formation may be evident but callus does not bridge across the fracture. If there is doubt about the interpretation of the x-ray, stress x-rays, tomograms or CT scan may be used for confirmation.

Basilar skull fractures are linear fractures that occur in the floor of the cranial vault (skull base), which require more force to cause than other areas of the neurocranium. Thus they are rare, occurring as the only fracture in only 4% of severe head injury patients.

Basilar fractures have characteristic signs: blood in the sinuses; a clear fluid called cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaking from the nose (rhinorrhea) or ears (otorrhea); periorbital ecchymosis often called 'raccoon eyes' (bruising of the orbits of the eyes that result from blood collecting there as it leaks from the fracture site); and retroauricular ecchymosis known as "Battle's sign" (bruising over the mastoid process).

Diastatic fractures occur when the fracture line transverses

one or more sutures of the skull causing a widening of the suture. While this type of fracture is usually seen in infants and young children as the sutures are not yet fused it can also occur in adults. When a diastatic fracture occurs in adults it usually affects the lambdoidal suture as this suture does not fully fuse in adults until about the age of 60.

Diastatic fractures can occur with different types of fractures and it is also possible for diastasis of the cranial sutures to occur without a concomitant fracture. Sutural diastasis may also occur in various congenital disorders such as cleidocranial dysplasia and osteogenesis imperfecta.

A "corner fracture" or "bucket-handle fracture" is fragmentation of the distal end of one or both femurs, with the loose piece appearing at the bone margins as an osseous density paralleling the metaphysis. The term "bucket-handle fracture" is used where the loose bone is rather wide at the distal end, making it end in a crescent shape. These types of fractures are characteristic of child abuse-related injuries.

A sternal fracture is a fracture of the sternum (the breastbone), located in the center of the chest. The injury, which occurs in 5–8% of people who experience significant blunt chest trauma, may occur in vehicle accidents, when the still-moving chest strikes a steering wheel or dashboard or is injured by a seatbelt. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, commonly known as CPR, has also been known to cause thoracic injury, including sternum and rib fractures. Sternal fractures may also occur as a pathological fracture, in people who have weakened bone in their sternum, due to another disease process. Sternal fracture can interfere with breathing by making it more painful; however, its primary significance is that it can indicate the presence of serious associated internal injuries, especially to the heart and lungs.