History Main / ScarsAreUgly

* In ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'', [[ShrinkingViolet Hanako]] has extensive burn scars covering the right side of her body, from her face down to her leg. Between the tragic circumstances in which she received them, and the teasing she received from other children about them, she has ''extremely'' low self-esteem about her appearance and hides her facial scars [[PeekABangs behind her hair]].

* In ''[[Series/{{Werewolf}} Werewolf]]'', Janos Skorzeny's face around his missing eye is heavily scarred, mainly visible when he removes his eyepatch, which Eric uses as part of describing him as ugly more than once. Playfully subverted when a nurse tells Rogan he'll have some very ''attractive'' scars after he was nearly killed by a werewolf.

* In the 2012 {{reboot}} of ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal''. Its incarnation of Dollface was a psycho supermodel who actually murdered her competition, as if she wasn't volatile enough, she got into a car accident where the windshield shattered and the shards sliced her face. While she got relatively minor scars out of the accident, her insane dedication to perfection and already fragile psyche made her see the scars as pure FacialHorror[[labelnote:*]](imagining that half of her face was flayed open)[[/labelnote]], needless to say she absolutely snapped. This led her to finding ways to try and heal her face, which ended up with her getting her namesake, a strange Doll mask that has since been stuck to her face.

* Downplayed in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11''. When the Black Dragon attacks the Special Forces base, both young and old Johnny Cage help hold them off. Young Johnny receives a single bullet cut acorss the cheek, which in turns gives Old Johnny a faded one in the same place. Old Johnny is mildly freaked out by it, Young Johnny on the other hand blows his stack, grabs a shield and opens fire at the Black Dragons.
* In the 2012 {{reboot}} of ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal'', its incarnation of Dollface was a psycho supermodel who actually murdered her competition, but things got worse for her when she got into a car accident where her convertible's windows shattered and sliced her face. However she only got small cut scars out of the whole ordeal, but due to her insane dedication to perfection and already fragile psyche, she absolutely snapped and thought that the scar was pure body horror (imagining that half of her face was flayed open, to say the least). This ended up forcing her to find a way to get rid of her scars, which ended up with her getting her namesake, a Doll mask that ended up being stuck to her face the moment it was put on.

* ''Theatre/{{Violet}}'': The title character had her face badly disfigured by her father's axe as a child and spends the show traveling to meet a televangelist with supposed HealingHands in order to fix it. She's especially afraid she will never find love because of her scar, and wonders if her father may have disfigured her on purpose so she wouldn't leave him for a husband. While the scar is mostly left up to the audience's imagination, characters on stage react to it, and Violet is clearly traumatized from years of people shuddering, flinching away from, and even mocking her. However, she still finds people who love her for her and comes to terms with what happened.

** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'': Discussed. The Dursleys' call Harry's lightning bolt scar ugly, with Petunia once leaving his fringe while shaving the rest of his head just to hide the scar. Harry, however, thinks it makes him look interesting and it's the only thing he likes about his appearance growing up... at least until he finds out its dark origins and starts getting a lot of attention in the Wizarding World because of it.

* ''Theatre/{{Violet}}'': The title character had her face badly disfigured by her father's axe as a child and spends the show traveling to meet a televangelist with supposed HealingHands in order to fix it. She's especially afraid she will never find love because of it. While the scar is mostly left up to the audience's imagination, characters on stage react to it, and Violet is clearly traumatized from years of people shuddering and flinching away from her. However, she still finds people who love her for her and comes to terms with what happened between her and her father.

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'': Following the Battle of the Tower, Bill Weasleyhas found himself the victim of [[AxeCrazy Fenrir Greyback]]'s bloodlust and his face was mutilated as a result. His mother Molly expresses this sentiment at his bedside, crying about how he was going to be married even as she tries to patch up the wounds. Bill's fiancee Fleur Delacour, however, completely disagrees and lays into Molly for thinking this way.

* Downplayed in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11''. When the Black Dragon attacks the Special Forces base, both young and old Johnny Cage hold off. When Young Johnny gets a single bullet cut across the cheek, which old Johnny also receives. Old Johnny is mildly freaked out by it, Young Johnny on the other hand blows his stack at his face being shot, grabs a shield and opens fire on the Black Dragons.

* In the [[Recap/DragonsButterfliesAndWhoKnowsWhatElseChapter14 Chapter 14]] of ''[[Fanfic/TheDragonAndTheButterfly Dragons, Butterflies, And Who Knows What Else?]]'', the normally confident Mirabel starts to develop insecurities about her appearance when her burn scars start attracting one too many weird looks from her neighbors.

* ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'': In his origin story, [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Doctor Doom]] gets a disfiguring scar on his left cheek in a failed attempt at creating a device that would allow him to talk to his mother's soul in {{Hell}}. So ashamed of his appearance, he traveled to Tibet where a temple of monks built him his iconic suit of armor, further disfiguring him when he put on his iconic metal mask ''while it was still red-hot out of the forge.''

* ''Film/TheDarkKnight'': {{Invoked|Trope}} by the Joker when he confronts Rachel Dawes at the party for Harvey Dent. As he approaches her, he says that she looks nervous and asks if it's because of his [[GlasgowGrin scars]] before grabbing her and giving an explanation for their origin.

While some think scars are rugged and are used as proof of how badass you are, in other cases they are treated as a MarkOfShame. This is typically the reaction you get from both the scar-bearer and those around them. When PlayedForDrama, the scars are genuinely terrifying, having come from a traumatic or humiliating incident, and some of the story will revolve around them learning to cope with it. When PlayedForLaughs, [[MinorInjuryOverreaction the reactions are disproportionate to the outcome]], people treated a mild scar as though it were [[FacialHorror a miscarriage of medical science]].

* ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'': In his origin story, [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Doctor Doom]] gets a disfiguring scar on his left cheek in a failed attempt at creating a device that would allow him to talk to his mother's soul in {{Hell}}. So ashamed by his appearance, he traveled to Tibet where a temple of monks built him his iconic suit of armor, further disfiguring him when he put on his iconic metal mask ''while it was still red-hot out of the forge.''

* Parodied in ''Film/Zoolander2''. After being injured during [[HappyEndingOverride the Derek Zoolander Center For Kids Who Can't Read Good's collapse]], Hansel wears a stylish mask to hide his disfigurement. When Derek asks to see it, confident that it isn't as bad as he thinks, we see that the "horror-show" is just a faint less-than-an-inch-long scar on his cheekbone. Derek reacts like it's a freakish deformity.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* In ''[[Series/{{Werewolf}} Werewolf]]'', Janos Skorzeny's face around his missing eye is heavily scarred, mainly visible when he removes his eyepatch, which Eric uses as part of describing him as ugly more than once. Playfully subverted when a nurse tells Rogan he'll have some very ''attractive'' scars after he was nearly killed by a werewolf.
[[/folder]]

* In the 2012 {{reboot}} of ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal'', its incarnation of Dollface was a psycho super model who actually murdered her competition, but things got worse for her when she got into a car accident where her convertible's windows shattered and sliced her face. However she only got small cut scars out of the whole ordeal, but due to her insane dedication to perfection and already fragile psyche, she absolutely snapped and thought that the scar was pure body horror (imagining that half of her face was flayed open, to say the least). This ended up forcing her to find a way to get rid of her scars, which ended up with her getting her namesake, a Doll mask that ended up being stuck to her face the moment it was put on.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/WhatsNewScoobyDoo'' episode "[[Recap/WhatsNewScoobyDooS1E12LightsCameraMayhem Lights! Camera! Mayhem]]", it's revealed that the security guard Old Pete was actually the famous actor Rip Bannon, who allegedly died during a production accident and had since haunted that studio as the Faceless Phantom. He confesses that even if he survived, he felt too ashamed by the scar that he gotten from the accident that he had quit acting and had gone into hiding, hiding the (small and unnoticeable) scar under a fake beard.

SisterTrope to ScaryStitches. Contrast BlemishedBeauty. See also ScarsAreForever.

-> ''Surely, it must look atrocious.''
-> ''It's an unsightly, hideous, revolting, ''ugly'' marking.''
-> ''Something that no one wants to see.''
-->-- ''[[Fanfic/TheDragonAndTheButterfly Dragons, Butterflies, And Who Knows What Else?]]'', [[Recap/DragonsButterfliesAndWhoKnowsWhatElseChapter17 Chapter 17]]

!!Examples of this trope in media:

[[folder:Comic Book]]

[[folder:Fanworks]]

* In the 2012 Reboot of ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal'', it's incarnation of Dollface was a psycho super model who actually muredered her competition, but things got worse for her when she got into a car accident where her convertible's windows shattered and sliced her face. However she only got small cut scars out of the whole ordeal, but due to her insane dedication to perfection and already fragile psyche. She absolutely snapped and thought that the scar was pure body horror (imagining that half of her face was flayed open, to say the least). This ended up forcing her to find a way to get rid of her scars, which ended up with her getting her namesake, a Doll mask that ended up being stuck to her face the moment it was put on.

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* In ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', the reason why Kyoko nearly never takes off her gloves is to conceal grotesque burn scars she got on her hands from an incident when she was a beginner detective.

* In [[Series/{{Werewolf}} ''Werewolf'']], Janos Skorzeny's face around his missing eye is heavily scarred, mainly visible when he removes his eyepatch, which Eric uses as part of describing him as ugly more than once. Playfully subverted when a nurse tells Rogan he'll have some very ''attractive'' scars after he was nearly killed by a werewolf.

While some think scars are rugged and are used as proof of how badass you are, in other cases they are treated as a MarkOfShame. This is typically the reaction you get from both the scar-bearer and those around them. When PlayedForDrama, the scars are genuinely terrifying and some of the story, be it a RevengeFic or MedicalDrama, will revolve around them learning to cope with it. When PlayedForLaughs, [[MinorInjuryOverreaction the reactions are disproportionate to the outcome]], people treated a mild scar as though it were [[FacialHorror a miscarriage of medical science]].

While some think scars are rugged and are used as proof of how badass you are, in other cases they are treated as a MarkOfShame. This is typically the reaction you get from both the scar-bearer and those around them. When PlayedForDrama, the scars are genuinely terrifying and some of the story, be it a RevengeFic or MedicalDrama, will revolve around them learning to cope with it. When PlayedForLaughs, [[MinorInjuryOverreaction the reactions are disproportionate to the outcome]], people treated a mild scar as though it were a miscarriage of medical science.