DISFIGUREMENT IS MORE THAN SKIN DEEP - Disfigurement can be a challenging and distressing experience for many of the 1 million people in the UK who have a visible difference of any kind. According to new research presented at the international conference, Appearance Matters, taking place in Bristol on 22nd & 23rd June, psychological support is as important as functional and surgical treatment in helping people cope with the challenges they face as a result of living with a disfigurement. The study found that levels of distress were equally high regardless of whether individuals were in the community or actively seeking hospital treatment, highlighting the need for more widely available specialist psychological support for people with disfigurement.

The study, the largest ever of its kind, involved 1265 people with a variety of disfigurements including those resulting from skin conditions, head and neck cancer or amputation. Funded by disfigurement research charity The Healing Foundation and coordinated by researchers at the Centre for Appearance Research at the University of the West of England, the study also showed that common assumptions about who will cope well with a disfigurement are inaccurate.

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MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT - A new report indicates that most people (both with and without personal experience of disfigurement) would welcome more representations of those with disfigurement on television. This suggests that the recent negative reaction to CBeebies TV presenter Cerrie Burnell is not representative of the views of the UK public as a whole. The report also concludes that TV producers should find new ways to challenge societal ignorance and discomfort about disfigurement, to remove the taboo and stigma attached to it. This could be achieved by including people with disfigurement on TV in a more incidental, less sensational way, so that the wide range of human appearance becomes the norm on television, as it is in life.

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MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT - James Maurice, an undergraduate medical student, has won the £100 BAPRAS/Healing Foundation student elective prize for the best poster presentation for his research project entitled 'Breast reduction and Abdominoplasty through the Exceptional Referral Pathway'.

The Healing Foundation, in partnership with the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS), offers students and medical students the chance of a funded 'elective' period in the UK or Ireland to participate in supervised research relevant to 'disfigurement and loss of function'. The awards, each worth up to £1,200 towards personal expenses, allow students to broaden their perception and experience in the area of plastic and reconstructive surgery. Students are then invited to present their research at the BAPRAS Winter Meeting in December. James conducted his research during his studies at St John's Hospital, Livingstone.