Doctors Use Revolutionary Treatment on Burned Model

Jan. 6, 2010— -- British model Katie Piper's dreams were derailed when a complete stranger threw sulfuric acid in her face on a London street in March 2008.

The vicious attack left Piper horribly disfigured and sent the 24-year-old into a whirlwind of reconstructive surgeries. Acid melted all of the skin on her face, neck and hands and when she arrived at the hospital, she was missing an ear, parts of her nose and was blind in one eye.

Her parents, David and Diane Piper, had difficulty recognizing their beloved daughter. "When they said, 'Is this your daughter?' I remember thinking, 'I don't know,'" David said.

Click here for more on the acid attack.

Doctors at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital rushed to determine the next steps of treatment.

"We had to stabilize all different areas. And then...my first reaction was, 'What the hell are we gonna do with this girl,'" said Dr. Mohammad Jawad, who specializes in reconstructive surgery on burn victims, and spearheaded Piper's treatment. "Medically speaking, I had no idea."

Complicating her condition, Piper had swallowed some of the acid during the attack -- badly damaging her esophagus and stomach. To manage the pain, she spent days going in and out of a medically induced coma. At one point, she woke up delirious and hysterical.

"We got called in the middle of the night when she became uncontrollable, and they literally couldn't hold her down while they injected her to sedate her," her father said. "And she looked at me, she thought I was attacking her... That was very hard."

Her parents said this was one of the many low moments in the hospital. "I remember thinking, 'Do I really want her to survive? She's so disfigured, she could be totally blind...What sort of life is she gonna have,'" David said. "And I do, I do feel guilty, even now, about that."

Click here to see photos of Katie Piper before the attack and through her miraculous recovery

Click here for full coverage of Katie Piper's story