When I was in my early teens, I read a science fiction novel I have since lost track of, and can remember neither the title nor the author. I can remember only a few details about the novel, but perhaps they'll jog someone's memory.
The basic concept seemed to be that only so-called "sub-standard" humans were sent on exploratory missions into space, so our heroine is a young woman who has a mutation of the face -- I seem to recall it as a sort of huge raw patch that often oozed. She is employed on a spaceship full of others like her, though the only other character I can remember with any accuracy is a young man whose face was a golden pharaonic-style mask; he was described as promiscuous and very attractive. The planet they eventually reach is populated by (I believe) dinosaurs or something very like them, and I vaguely remember a scene in which our heroine flees from aliens resembling raptors. There may also have been archaeology involved.
Many searches over the years have failed to turn up the title of this book, which I believe was the first in a series. Ringing any bells?
