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The Journal of Cranio rgeon and a patient wi B ecause a plastic su th bandages appeared on a poster advertising the show, I recently enjoyed an episode of an old TV drama, ‘‘The Twilight Zone’’ (‘‘Eye of the Beholder’’, 1959; director: Douglas Heyes, starring Donna Douglas, and 2003; director: David Ellis, starring Molly Sims) (Fig. 1). In this episode, Janet Tyler, a woman with facial deformities in a totalitarian society that emphasizes conformity even in in physical appearance, is undergoing her 12th surgery in an attempt to make her appear normal. It is the last chance she can legally receive to alter her looks, and if the operation succeeds, she will fit in with those around her for the first time in her life. If it fails, she will be transported to a ‘‘segregated’’ colony of those who look like her, rather than as ‘‘normal’’ people do. Tyler is first shown with her head bandaged completely, so that her face cannot be seen. She is described as being ‘‘not normal’’ by the nurses and doctor, whose own faces are always either in shadows or off-camera. Her bandages are due to came off any day now and she is terribly worried as to the outcome. When the bandages were removed, I noticed that she had a beautiful face. However, the reaction of the doctor and nurses was complete disappointment, to the point that the shocked surgeon dropped his scissors. Janet tried to run, but they restrained her and turned on the lights. At this point, the doctor, nurses, and other people in the hospital, whose faces had not been shown clearly before, are now revealed to be grotesquely deformed, looking like monsters (1959 version) or burn victims (2002 version). Mr. Smith, from the congregate separatist group for the ‘‘freaks’’, tells Tyler the old axiom, ‘‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’’ as they walk off. After watching the drama, I investigated the concept of beauty from an aesthetic standpoint and in the setting of plastic surgery. According to Tatarkiewicz, theories of beauty have conceptualized beauty in three different ways.