[Patients with facial image alteration: care circumstances]

The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study is to understand how patients with altered facial image perceive care action and the circumstances that may influence their perception. The collection of data was carried out from August to October 2008, among patients from the head/neck clinic hospitalized in the surgical unit of the University Hospital of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The instrument used was the semi structured interview. The information was analyzed by content analysis and highlighted the following categories: (1) living with the changes and (2) care circumstances. Thus, we observed how difficult and suffering it is for patients to live with their changed facial images. As a result, it was concluded that patients need not only the professional, technical and scientific-based care, but also a care based on carefully guided human values, which should always be discussed, studied, respected and treated as an object of commitment and responsibility by nursing practitioners.