I have started writing a horror story that is also somewhat masked as a commentary on people who find themselves in abusive relationships. My first idea was to have the opening scene be the main character in the bathroom, bleeding into the sink, and tending to an open wound on her cheek after having been punched by her husband. How likely is this to happen? Or rather, how likely is it that she will even be in a state where she can deal with a wound like this after having been punched that hard? If the skin on her upper cheekbone were to tear open, would it be likely for bones to fracture or for her to be rendered unconscious? Is it more likely to start bleeding from your nose without losing consciousness? I would like to have the scene contain blood just for the sake of effect, but I don't want to be inaccurate, so if I just have to write that she is bruised then that is fine.
Does the husband wear a ring? That could lead to bleeding even if the punch wasn't that hard. Otherwise - I've seen people bleed from getting punched in the nose, of course, and from being punched on/near the mouth. A cheek? I'm not saying it couldn't happen--I'm sure it could. But I'd be a bit more surprised.
He does have a ring, yes. Didn't think about that! I guess that could make the cheek thing at least a bit more likely. So when people get punched on/near the mouth, is it usually the lips that tear up and start bleeding? I constantly see characters in movies spitting blood but is that from something tearing inside their mouths or is it the lips tearing and then the blood pouring in? Oooor is it movie-bullshit? I have a friend who is training to become a field medic and he says that often tends to be the case...
I've bled from having my lips bashed against my teeth even without being punched - I used to ride a horse who frequently bashed me in the face with his head as a form of greeting, and he split my lip open a couple times. I'm trying to think of the exact mechanics... I think my teeth were definitely involved, but more as a hard surface for my lips to be squished against, not as cutting tools. Like, it was the face of my teeth, not the edge. And I know I've bled from the corner of my mouth after some sort of blow, but I can just remember the sensation, not the causal details.
That makes sense. I guess lip cuts don't usually bleed quite as much (usually anyway), so for dramatic effect, I think either nose or ring-on-cheek fits best. I also want the character to appear as vulnerable as possible, and in my mind she looks more vulnerable with a cut on her cheek.
It might be worth mentioning that nosebleeds can be pretty intense, so if you're looking for a higher volume of blood, that might be the better route. A scrape on the cheek probably wouldn't bleed quite as much. Also, for best results (well, not for her, but for what you're going for), you should place the cut right over her cheekbone - like Bayview mentioned with teeth, you need a hard surface for the ring to pinch her skin against, and there's a more flesh in the way lower down on the cheek. Although, if you want her to bleed from inside her cheek so she can spit blood or whatever, you could go for the teeth through the cheek and still get a cut on the outside, too.
Eyebrows bleed quite heavily if I recall correctly. I don't think you'd bleed from the cheek that easily even with a ring since it's a pretty flexible, thick surface and skin in general is surprisingly tough to break. If you do go for the cheek then yes, hit the cheekbone, still eyebrows have thinner skin over the bone. I'd go for the nosebleed or a cut eyebrow.
I'll throw my two cents in on this for what it's worth... It's not too difficult to split someone's cheek open with a punch, it can be done pretty easily. It doesn't bleed nearly as much as a nose. Lips also don't bleed as much as you'd think. If you're looking for a fair amount of blood, go for the nose. If you're looking for the most noticeable day-after-damage, the cheekbone or orbital bone (between your eye and temple), would be the best bet. They bruise the easier and swell up the most. You often can't tell that someone's has had their nose bloodied the next day unless it was really bad and actually broken. A relatively minor shot to the eye can cause a black eye for upwards of a week.
If the cheek was already swollen from a previous injury, the skin would be more likely to split and the area would already be engorged with fluid. That could work nicely if hubs was a serial abuser.
A punch to the cheek will likely not bleed. Cheeks are padded, pretty squishy, and tougher than you think. It also won't bleed terribly profusely. The easiest places to draw blood from a punch are the nose, mouth, forehead, and eyes. Mouth and nose bleed like crazy, and the forehead and around the eyes is tight, thin skin, which is both easy to rip and tends to bleed a lot. I've drawn and shed plenty of blood on martial arts mats, but my cheek has never bled.
I didn't see the second part to your question. Drawing blood is not related to knocking someone out, you can bleed profusely and still not go down. A strike that would break someone's nose would incapacitate them, but not knock them out. Usually knock out punches are to the jaw or temple, the face itself is designed to withstand impacts.
It all depends on two factors: 1. Where is being struck. 2. The force of the punch. The head is the easiest part to hit hard enough just about anywhere to draw blood (either externally or interally ie. mouth, nose). Hit the back of the head hard enough and you can detach the retina and other ocular structures. Also with repeated strikes one can knock out teeth, and break the orbital sockets or the zygomatic arches. Brass knuckles should be considered or a bar/roll of quarters, as this will give the hitter a harder/solid impact with each punch maximizing each impact.
@Cave Troll while brass knuckles, rolled up quarters would certainly add a lot of power to the punch, domestic situations tend to be crimes of passion don't they? I don't think those types of weapons get used very much, in a fit of anger someone would either simply use their hands or grab a more serious weapon like a knife. Training is the biggest difference between someone who can deliver a knockout punch and someone who can't. I'm going to go ahead and assume he beats her like one would fight in a bar: big swings (in martial arts we call them haymakers.) People thing because it's such a big swing, it has a lot of power behind it, but it really doesn't. Power comes from the hips, not the arms, and without training, most people don't know that.
She might also bite her tongue while the husband is beating her up, and spit blood into the sink. A nosebleed sounds like a viable option and has happened to me in Krav Maga, and as someone already mentioned, it can be pretty intense. The wound might not also be caused by the punch itself, as @newjerseyrunner explains, someone who's just swinging away might not be able to cause a graze on her cheek, but she could fall down and hit her head, scrape or even break the cheekbone on something like furniture.
I never knew that it was martial arts terminology; I suppose because I learnt it before Karate became a big thing...looong before Bruce Lee!