Acid attack victim maimed by jealous ex starts burns charity

A former TV presenter and model whose face was disfigured in an acid attack is to help hundreds of burns victims through a new charity.

Katie Piper, 26, from London, was attacked in March 2008 after her jealous ex-boyfriend hired a man to maim her. But she has made an incredible recovery thanks to a pioneering treatment used by plastic surgeons.

Today, Ms Piper was launching the Katie Piper Foundation to lobby for specialist surgery to be more widely available at existing burns rehabilitation centres. She also aims to set up a special aftercare clinic in the capital.

Ms Piper said: "I realised there are others out there, just like me, who maybe haven't had the support and attention I've had I want other burns victims to have the chance to recuperate at specialist units like the one I went to. And I'd like people to accept that if someone is disfigured, they're still people."

The Katie Piper Foundation is backed by Mohammad Jawad, the surgeon who helped save her face.

The sulphuric acid thrown at Ms Piper stripped away four layers of skin but Mr Jawad started to rebuild her features with the help of eight doctors from Chelsea and Westminster hospital in a six-hour operation.

The team used a skin substitute called Matriderm - made of collagen and elastin - as a "foundation" which was moulded over Ms Piper's face. The surgeons then placed a graft of skin from her lower back on top of the filler and stitched it in place.

Until Ms Piper's operation, Matriderm had only been used to improve the appearance of existing burns, never on a patient with fresh injuries. Ms Piper hopes the treatment can be made available at all burns units. Matriderm costs about £2,000 for an A4 sheet.

Patient groups say burns treatment is often regarded as a low priority in the NHS and that many victims do not receive the aftercare and support they need. Piper spent seven weeks in the burn unit and a stint in intensive care and had to wear a plastic mask 23 hours a day to help her wounds heal.

Her ex-boyfriend Daniel Lynch, and Stefan Sylvestre, were jailed for life over the acid attack in Golders Green.