A British TV personality has revealed why she underwent surgery to stitch her left eye shut.
On Wednesday (December 13), Katie Piper appeared on talk show Loose Women, after taking a break from the TV series for several weeks.
The presenter, 40, suffered life-changing injuries and burns, including blindness in one eye, after she was brutally attacked with acid by her abusive ex-boyfriend Daniel Lynch and his accomplice Stefan Sylvestre in 2008.
She's since undergone recovery treatments and surgeries, including a recent one on her left eye, and explained in an Instagram post that the scheduled surgery she underwent was to "preserve the eye, avoid perforation and losing my eye completely".
Check out Piper's post below:Appearing on Loose Women for the first time since the procedure, fellow panelist Kaye Adams pointed out that they haven't seen Piper in "five or six weeks," as cited by Daily Mail.
Piper then explained: "Yeah, so I had a planned procedure called a tarsorrhaphy, which is a semi-permanent closure of the eye. So it's an operation done in theatre and your eye is sort of fully or partially stitched up."
"Some people might be familiar with it, you normally see it when somebody has some kind of disease of the cornea. And closing the eye gives it the optimum environment for it to heal," she continued. "So I've had quite a lot of problems with my eye in the last year-and-a-half. I don't like to go on about it because there's always somebody worse off!"
Adam chimed in to say: "But do you know what Katie, you never go on about anything. That's the incredible thing about you, you're just so stoic, it's so incredible," to which Piper said: "It's been quite painful, so it's quite a relief for me to finally have it stitched up because it's a lot more comfortable."
"It's not permanent," she clarified, "It's probably going to be like a year like this and then hopefully I can have it opened."
The author described the procedure as "a bit like being pregnant because you feel a bit dizzy and nauseous," and shared: "And it's difficult when the other eye is trying to operate because it does tug a bit. But that does subside and then you get used to it."
She then quipped: "I had the operation a month ago now, so I'm actually okay. I'm still wearing a six-inch high heel!"
Piper was 24 years old when she almost lost her life after the horrific acid attack in 2008. Her ex-boyfriend was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 16 years for the violence inflicted, while his co-conspirator was given a life sentence with a minimum term of six years.
In the wake of her ordeal, she has tirelessly campaigned to keep the topic of such attacks in the forefront of the minds since her heartbreaking experience, such as releasing a documentary titled, Katie Piper: My Beautiful Face, to raise awareness about facial disfigurements and tell her story.
She has also launched The Katie Piper Foundation, which helps other burn victims.
