Model Katie recovering after acid attack
Katie Piper is now able to identify shapes and colours, having described her sight prior to the operation as 'like being underwater and looking up at the surface'. Photo: Getty Images
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Katie Piper, the TV presenter and charity campaigner who had acid thrown in her face in 2008, has regained some of her sight after receiving pioneering surgery.
The 28-year-old, is now able to identify shapes and colours, having described her sight prior to the operation as "like being underwater and looking up at the surface".
A Channel 4 documentary, to be broadcast tonight, follows Piper as she researches the procedure, including its impacts and side effects, and films her as she undergoes the surgery as well as her subsequent recovery.
Piper said: "I can see silhouettes, I can judge depth, I can see movement, I can see shapes - if someone holds their hand up I can see how many fingers they are holding up.
"I would say the most significant thing about restoring my sight is I can be more independent if I have operations on my good eye."
Piper, who runs The Katie Piper Foundation, a charity that helps people live with scars and burns, said that the surgery has totally destroyed any abnormal cells, and the donor cells have stimulated her remaining cells to multiply.
Piper's left eye was badly injured four years ago as she turned her face away when acid was thrown at her. The acid burned into her cornea and left a big scar across it, blinding her in one eye.
She said: "Of all my injuries, it's the damage to my left eye that has the most impact. The hardest part is not being able to see anything on one side. In crowded places it leaves me feeling scared and vulnerable.
"Visually, someone wouldn't think it's the last permanent injury I have. But in my eyes it is because my scars aren't marks of my attack, my scars to me are character, they're me, I'm proud of them.
"I choose how I wear them. They don't define me in a bad way. But with the eye it's an obstruction that holds me back. When somebody has tried to control you it's good to take that control back."
Because it is too risky to take stem cells from her uninjured right eye, Piper is receiving cells from a donor eye instead - which are being grown especially for her in a lab.
"I can see the way some people would feel a bit 'creeped out' by donated tissue. But if you're in the situation where you're desperate and you need it, that would go out the window.
"There's nothing positive about someone passing away, but it's a nice thought that you can help someone else. I'm going to fill in the donation form and send it off. I know how important it is for people to have those organs and tissue and if there's a waiting list I'd like to help," she said.
Katie: The Science Of Seeing Again will be broadcast on Channel 4 tonight at 9pm.
- Catherine Wylie
