"sore face" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
It typically refers to a feeling of discomfort or pain in one's face, often due to injury or illness. Example: After being hit by a soccer ball, John's face was left with a large bruise and a sore face.
"[I had] a real sore face, for about a week after, but he just seemed to find it funny," Polworth said.
The boy reportedly had a sore face and scratches to his right eye.
"I woke up with a sore face after a night out last summer, and then the clicking started.
Lene Sandal, a Danish physical therapist who specialises in jaw conditions, explains how this clenching and grinding could do more damage than a sore face the next day.
When shooting Vicki's Sand Beast, Jacqueline Hill underestimated the gun's power and fired too soon; she was not seriously injured, though suffered shock and a sore face because it blew back in her face.
My exercise left my eyes sore, my face red, and my left eye twitching.
Everything on him, from his scorched and sore-filled face to the intricate little skulls and chains on his costume were depicted in excruciating detail.
Then there is Guantánamo Bay, that bleeding sore on the face of American civil liberties.
Even under the best of circumstances, marathon runners face sore and swollen feet, blisters and the occasional wandering toenail.
I'd like to destroy him with a smart remark but then I'd look at myself in the mirror, pimply face, sore eyes, and bad teeth and know I could never stand up to anyone, especially a first officer with a uniform and a promising future as master of his own ship.
The Sun, which believes "anarchy at Calais" to be "a weeping sore on the face of Europe", argues that "France's heart is not in it" and even quotes Labour's Harriet Harman approvingly because she said France should identify the few genuine asylum seekers and deport the rest.
