Background and aims. The gaze directed towards visible facial differences (VFD) can be experienced as highly stigmatizing by those who endure it. Beyond its detrimental effects on targeted individuals, this research addresses the intrinsically problematic nature of such visual treatment, by showing that it is not simply about noticing a VFD, but merely treating globally another person as different and devaluated. Based on former research, the purpose of this study was to show that the way people visually treat faces with VFD is related to affective stigmatizing reactions, but also that it is only true for faces with VFD and not for faces with conditions that people do not stigmatize. Methods. 164 volunteers who do not report any VFD are recruited to an eye-tracking study (current N = 131/164). They are asked to look at pictures of faces with and without a VFD (i.e., a burn-like scar) on a cheek, or with and without a plaster on the same location, and then to report affective reactions elicited by these faces. Findings. Intermediate results replicate former studies showing that the change in visual processing elicited by the VFD is related to stigmatizing affective states. In parallel, we find no such relation for faces with plaster. Discussion. This research aims to demonstrate that the way people perceptually treat faces with VFD is stigmatizing because 1) it diverges from the way faces without VFD are treated, 2) it is correlated with other stigmatizing reactions, 3) it is specific to VFD.