IntroductionThe aim of this paper is to analyse the characteristics of the victims and the circumstances of sexual violence related with the risk of physical lesions, as well as to determine the frequency and severity of the injuries. Material and methodsDescriptive study of 702 cases of sexual assault attended at the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences of Alicante between the years 2016 and 2020. A comparative study was carried out between victims with and without injuries, to identify the variables associated to their presentation. Results314 victims attended showed physical injuries (44.8%). Profile of the victims with injuries were women (95.5%), aged 18–27 years (31.3%), and previous alcohol consumption (50%). Injuries physical were mainly extragenital (38.6%), anogenital (15%), or both, and most cases were mild in severity (97.5%). Recovery was less to 1 week (83.4%) and without aftermath (97.1%). When the victim showed aftermath (9 cases), the most frequent were psychological type (1.6%). ConclusionsPhysical injuries in sexual violence is related with circumstances of victim vulnerability: women, age between 18 and 27 years, and previous alcohol consumption.Our study shows that anogenital lesions are absent in a significative number of victims of sexual assault, so this absence cannot exclude sexual violence. The lesions found are mild in severity, and the absence of physical aftermath in most of the victims may be conditioned by the scarce follow-up of them.