Whether present from birth or acquired later in life, a disfigurement, which is visible to others, can have a profound impact on those affected. Difficulties experienced can be pervasive and debilitating, and include negative experiences related to social encounters with others and adverse effects on self-esteem and quality of life.

This three-year research programme, co-ordinated by the Centre for Appearance Research at the University of West of England, is the largest of its kind in the world. The results will be used to develop support for those with disfigurement and visible loss of function in conjunction, with or as an alternative to, surgery.

This major project is continuing to stimulate related research, for instance on ethno-specific experiences of living with different disfigurements. UWE is aiming to create a manual from the report and related papers have been published by the Centre for Appearance Research Team in respected journals such as Eye, British Journal of Dermatology and the Journal of Health Psychology.

To learn more about the project please click on the links below which includes the final report and summary.

Download the report summary [Adobe Acrobat format, 787k]

Download the report [Adobe Acrobat format, 2.5Mb]