ABSTRACT
World War I changed the lives of thousands of British and Dominion soldiers who sustained disfiguring facial wounds. The work of Sir Harold Gillies and his staff at the Queen’s Hospital at Sidcup, United Kingdom, saw incredible advances made in the field of maxillofacial reconstructive surgery. As well as addressing the medical advances, this chapter explores the social and emotional repercussions of disfigurement. The chapter also considers the way people connect with these stories – including the representation of disfigurement in a museum environment, and the emotional connection the author made with one particular case study. Finally, an observation is made on the legacy of World War I disfigured veterans for today’s veterans, and the role the lessons of the past can play in understanding facial difference.
