Katie Piper: Loose Women panellist asks people not to troll her after latest surgery - what happened to her?

British writer, activist, television presenter and model Katie Piper has asked people not to troll her as she reveals she had surgery to save one of her eyes. Piper took to Instagram showing her eye after the procedure and admitting she still finds operations 'mentally hard' following her acid attack.

The 40-year-old suffers from major injuries and blindness in one eye. But why did she undergo the surgery now and what happened to her in 2008? Here is everything you need to know. 

What happened to Katie Piper?

In March 2008, Piper was attacked with acid by her ex-boyfriend, Daniel Lynch and an accomplice, Stefan Sylvestre. Lynch was a martial arts enthusiast who had been tracking Piper's media and modelling career and the two connected on Facebook. 

Two weeks into their relationship, the couple booked into a hotel in Bayswater where in the hotel room Lynch raped and beat Piper, threatened to cut her with a razor and hang her, and stabbed her several times in the arms. After driving back to her flat, she was treated at the Royal Free Hospital but did not disclose the incident as she was afraid of Lynch. 

On 31 March 2008, Piper went to an Internet cafe after Lynch persuaded her to read an email he had sent to her Facebook account. Lynch had given her details to his accomplice, Sylvestre, who approached Piper and threw sulphuric acid at her face. 

Both men were arrested. Lynch received two life sentences and will serve a minimum of 16 years. Sylvestre received a life sentence, and was told he would serve a minimum of six years, before having his parole application approved in 2018. He is allegedly on the run after breaching his parole terms in 2022. 

Why does Katie Piper need continuing surgery? 

After the attack, Piper ran into a cafe where an ambulance was called. She was treated by plastic surgeon Mohammad Ali Jawad in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. 

The surgeons completely removed the skin of Piper's face, replacing it with Matriderm, a skin substitute that helps build the foundations for a skin graft. This procedure was the first of its kind to be done in a single operation.

Piper was in an induced coma for 12 days and has had continued operations to help with her injuries. On social media, Piper revealed a picture of her latest surgery stating this was a tarsorrhaphy. She wrote: "On Tuesday I had a planned operation, a tarsorrhaphy to my left eye. Tarsorrhaphy is the joining of part or all of the upper and lower eyelids so as to partially or completely close the eye. Temporary tarsorrhaphies are used to help the cornea heal or to protect the cornea during a short period of exposure or disease. I’ve also had scar tissue operated on on my right eye, so that will also be slightly swollen."

She continues sharing the reason why she had the operation: to educate and to preserve the eye. She wrote: "Firstly to educate that living with the kind of injuries I have means things will change throughout your life and sometimes things go backwards. 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. 

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."

What has Katie Piper done since the attack? 

Piper waved her right to anonymity in 2009 to increase awareness about burn victims, and she documented her experience in the 2009 Channel 4 documentary Katie: My Beautiful Face. 

She has also started the Katie Piper Foundation, which she founded to help victims of burns and other disfigurement injuries, as well as presenting the Channel 4 television series Bodyshockers about members of the public about to undergo body-altering procedures and those who regret procedures they have had. In July 2021, Piper became a panellist on Loose Women. Piper is married to carpenter Richard Sutton and has two children: Belle Elizabeth and Penelope Diane.