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Sometimes following an injury in a workplace, there can be lasting damage to a person's appearance. This situation is called disfigurement. Disfigurement is the term for when a person's appearance has been harmed permanently or in a persistent way medically, usually due to a disease, a birth defect, or a wound. In the case of workers' injuries, the most common cause of disfigurement is a wound.
When a person experiences disfigurement from a wound or accident, that person may develop severe psychosocial problems. These problems include negative body image; depression; ongoing difficulties in the social, sexual, and professional aspects of a person's life; prejudice; and intolerance. Many people do not understand what caused the disfigurement of a person and so continue to stare or ask insensitive questions. Much of the time, this is because the individual is visibly "different" from other people. Unfortunately, there is frequently little correlation between the degree of disfigurement and the emotional distress that is felt by the suffering person.
The most difficult areas to have experience disfigurement are the hands, face, and other commonly exposed parts of the body. This is because it is so very difficult to conceal disfigurement in these areas. A scar across the back or chest is hidden by clothes most of the time; the same cannot be said for the face.
Injuries commonly experienced in the workplace that can lead to disfigurement and psychosocial disabilities include burns from both chemicals and heat sources; wounds that have been opened; and loss of limbs.
Contact a Boston Workers' Compensation Lawyer
If you or a loved one have been injured in a way that has left you or your loved one disfigured, contact the Boston workers' compensation lawyers of Pulgini & Norton to discuss your situation and to learn more about the Massachusetts workers' compensations system.
