To what extent does physical appearance impact human flourishing? Our contemporary culture reflects a view that equates attractiveness with success and ugliness with poverty. We recoil from the idea of such a state of affairs, and there are numerous examples of how a pre-occupation with physical appearance can be destructive. However, if we hold the tenet that the species Homo sapiens was created in the imago Dei and we want to avoid Cartesian dualism, then we might agree that there exists a normative range of human appearance. Deviations from this could be considered the consequences of a fallen creation, and restoration of this could be considered a function grace. Plastic surgeons “restore, repair, and make whole those parts which fortune has taken away, not so much that they may delight the eye, but that they may buoy the spirit and help the mind of the afflicted.” The practice of certain surgical subspecialties includes surgically altering the bodies of children who are malformed and disfigured. The goal is to bring the child to within the realm of “normal” appearance. The authors routinely treat children who have disorders of sexual differentiation, as well as children who are born with craniofacial anomalies. Reflecting on a child born with ambiguous genitalia and on a child born with a syndromic craniofacial anomaly this paper will examine the concept of embodiment, discuss the importance of existing within normal parameters of appearance, and try to define an ethically and theologically sound approach to surgically shaping children.