"Aggravated battery predicated upon serious disfigurement, whether temporary or permanent, requires proof that the injury inflicted was more than a superficial wound, that is, a scrape, bruise, discoloration, or swelling." Yearwood v. State , 297 Ga. App. 633, 634 (1), 678 S.E.2d 114 (2009) (citation and punctuation omitted). "Inasmuch as the circumstances inevitably vary in each case of aggravated battery, whether disfigurement is serious is best resolved by the factfinder on a case-by-case basis and is almost always a question for the jury."

In prior cases where we have held that the trier of fact was authorized to conclude that fractured bones constituted serious disfigurement, at least some evidence was presented that the victim's appearance was altered in some way. See, e.g., Bray v. State , 330 Ga. App. 768, 772 (1), 768 S.E.2d 285 (2015) ("evidence that the victim fractured a bone, combined with photographs showing bruising or other visible injuries in the area of the fracture, can constitute sufficient evidence of serious disfigurement"); Feagin v. State , 317 Ga. App. 543, 545 (1), 731 S.E.2d 778 (2012) (jury authorized to find serious disfigurement where evidence included photographs depicting victim's severely swollen and bruised left eye, along with testimony that victim's eye was swollen shut and her eye socket was fractured); Yearwood v. State , 297 Ga. App. 633, 635 (1), 678 S.E.2d 114 (2009) (evidence sufficient for jury to find serious disfigurement where evidence was presented of numerous visible injuries inflicted upon the child, including a bruise to the child's head in the vicinity of the skull fracture revealed by the CT scans ); Underwood v. State , 283 Ga. App. 638, 641 (3), 642 S.E.2d 324 (2007), overruled on other grounds by Willis v. State , 304 Ga. 686, 706 (11) (a) n.3 820 S.E.2d 640 (2018) (jury could reasonably find that victim's broken nose constituted serious disfigurement where victim testified that he was able to feel his nasal bones moving around and "his nose was all laid over close to his right eye," and State introduced into evidence photographs depicting injuries to the victim's nose and surgeon's testimony that the procedure used to repair the nose involved re-breaking the patient's nose and replacing it in its proper position); Hopkins v. State , 255 Ga. App. 202, 204 (1), 564 S.E.2d 805 (2002) (victim showed jurors he

Because the term "seriously disfiguring" is not defined in the statute, Georgia courts have held that "[a]ggravated battery predicated upon serious disfigurement, whether temporary or permanent, requires proof that the injury inflicted was more than a superficial wound, that is, a scrape, bruise, discoloration, or swelling." Byers v. State, 857 S.E.2d 447, 453 (Ga. 2021) (citing Year-wood v. State, 678 S.E.2d 114, 116 (Ga.Ct.App. 2009)). While most aggravated battery charges have involved visible injuries to the victims, injuries to internal organs of the victim, such as severe and permanent damage to the victim's liver and spleen, have been found sufficient to sustain an aggravated battery conviction.