Acid Attack Survivor Katie Piper's Eyesight Restored After Stem Cell Surgery

Using stem cells surgeons in Britain have restored the sight of model and television presenter Katie Piper, 29, who was partially blinded after an acid attack on her face arranged by her former boyfriend Daniel Lynch, 35.Katie suffered third degree burns and had a damaged left eye and was scarred for life in the 2008 acid attack. She endured hundreds of operations, skin grafts and wore a mask up to 23-hours a day to stretch the scar tissue around her eyes as part of her recovery.

Surgeons at the Queen Victoria hospital in East Grinstead, West Sussex, used eye tissue from the cornea of an anonymous male donor. The stem cells were grown and 3-weeks later they were stitched into Ms. Piper's damaged eye and the eye was covered with amniotic membrane (womb lining) donated by women who have had caesarean births. This lining acted as a bandage.

Katie Piper said, "I'd seen a lot of progress with my scars, but my sight was the one injury I'd say to myself was permanent and least expected to change. I do feel like I'm winning. It wasn't like I took the bandage off and my sight came back like that, it happened gradually. It has been an amazing feeling."

Source-Medindia