After Katie Piper was attacked with acid by a stranger in 2008, the extensive scarring it caused on her face led the model to believe she would never be hired again. However, the 27-year-old Piper recently posed for a photo shoot for Reveal magazine, marking a significant achievement on her road to recovery, the Offaly Express reports.

The last two years have been anything but easy, though. Piper had to undergo numerous reconstructive surgeries on her face in an effort to reduce the appearance of scarring. Additionally, she had to wear a protective mask 23 hours a day to minimize the scar tissue, but she says it was worth it. Perhaps what appears to be most on the mend is her psychological well-being.

"It's an amazing feeling to model and feel like a normal girl again," Piper told the news source. "I'm supposed to be an acid attack survivor, but finally I'm just being me."

As Piper exemplifies, patients who have suffered an accident that left them with a facial disfigurement often have to deal with much more than physical scars. Katie has taken her tragic incident and started a foundation with the help of her plastic surgeon and star producer, Simon Cowell, to create a dedicated burn and scar rehabilitation center in the UK.