Katie Piper of Loose Women has offered a courageous health update after having her eye sewed shut.
After an acid assault in 2008, the presenter, 40, received life-changing injuries and burns, including in one eye.
She’s subsequently had many treatments and operations, including one on her left eye.
Katie, 40, had previously explained, while sharing images after the operation on Instagram, that the planned surgery she underwent was to ‘preserve the eye, avoid perforation and losing my eye completely’.
Marking her return to Loose Women after six weeks on Wednesday, Katie said: ‘I had a planned procedure called a tarsorrhaphy which is a semi-permanent closure of the eye.
‘It’s an operation done in theatre and your eye is fully or partially stitched up.’
She went on: ‘I’ve had 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.
‘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; it’s going to be for just about a year like this then hopefully I can have it opened.’
Katie went on to explain that she felt ‘dizzy and queasy’ after her eye was stitched up for the first time, and compared it to being pregnant.
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‘The other eye is trying to operate, it does tug a bit but that does subside and then you get used to it,’ she shared.
‘I’m still wearing a six inch high heel,’ she joked, laughing that it’s now cheaper to only have to buy one side of false lashes.
Talking about her eye health, Katie went on to say: ‘I always try and respect my health which is more unusual for a younger person because we don’t think about something until it starts to deteriorate, and I suppose I did experience both of my eyes being damaged at quite a young age.’
Following the long-term repercussions of her ex-boyfriend’s horrible acid attack in 2008, the broadcaster and campaigner underwent an emergency eye surgery.
Katie nearly died, spent time in critical care, and had many operations to correct her facial deformities.
Despite the brutal incident, she was determined to recover and eventually made a documentary, Katie Piper: My Beautiful Face, to raise awareness about facial disfigurements and share her story.
She has also established the Katie Piper Foundation to assist other burn sufferers.
Loose Women airs weekdays from 12.30pm on ITV1.
