Facial disfigurement is a major source of distress but has been little studied. There is similarly a lack of studies of attitudes towards disfigured individuals, and behaviour during interaction with them. In the case of facial disfigurement, social functioning is reported as a major area of difficulty by sufferers. Body image is a key element of many health care interventions, but it is a poorly defined term. Altered body image is a source of distress, particularly following facial disfigurement.
Disfigured people tend to be rated at the bottom of attractiveness scales.
Several researchers found that physically attractive people are systematically favoured over unattractive people. Interestingly, unattractive people also favour them, as well as also perceiving attractive people as more competent. This preference is well 'prepared' and established at an early age, and children notice disfigurement from early childhood. Newell offered a cognitive-behavioural approach to body image disturbance. Newell s approach assumes that many of the psycho-social difficulties experienced by people who have suffered disfigurement are mediated primarily by fear and avoidance.