Katie Piper has shared a health update with fans after getting her eye is sewn shut for a year.
Last month, the 40-year-old writer and activist opened up about how she’d undergone surgery on her left eye, as part of ongoing recovery from her horrific acid attack in March 2008 which left her blind in one eye and major damage to her face.
Since then, Katie has revealed she is making 'the best of life' after the surgery which will 'preserve her eye' ahead of the festive season. Have a look:
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The planned procedure, known as a Tarsorrhaphy, works to join part or all of the upper and lower eyelids to completely close the eye, and can either help the cornea to heal or protect it temporarily.
Posting a carousel of photos to Instagram, the 40-year-old wrote: “There isn’t really an end point and part of this kind of recovery is acceptance of that.
"Secondly with a disfigurement surgical decisions have to be based around function not aesthetics. In my case I am trying to preserve the eye, avoid perforation and losing my eye completely."
She added: "Also just because something is on view permanently it doesn’t give people the right to constantly comment on your appearance - you never know what’s going on in someone’s life."
Sharing a recent update on her health condition since the surgery, Katie said she was not going to waste her life 'in a woe is me kind of state'.
Speaking on Loose Women yesterday (21 December), Katie said she 'admires' Fiona Phillips' positive outlook after receiving a Alzheimer's diagnosis.
She said: "I really admire what she's done and I think positivity comes from acceptance and I think in all our lives, there are certain things that are just fixed and we cannot change them.
"For myself, I have things that are permanent and I've always taken this approach of I will make the best of it, whatever it is... it's not about comparisons, mourning what's gone, hungering to have it back, it's just saying this is my lot and maybe I've still got more than others."
When asked about when Katie found this acceptance, she responded: "I think for me, you know, my life changed at a very young age and I thought, 'Well, I'm still alive so I've got a long time ahead of me. I'm not going to really waste it in a woe is me kind of state'.
"I think perhaps Fiona has that same approach to life because when life does change dramatically you see the fragility of life and the suddenness of how everything can suddenly be turned upside down."
Katie added: "But, not to take away from what Fiona is going through as it must be very frightening and it is to be admired. I doubt every day is positive and that's also very normal."
Rhiannon Ingle