This is the sad story of a Pakistani woman whose future was ruined by a jealous friend who attacked and disfigured her with acid.
Kanwal Qayyum before the horrible attack
A jealous woman has ended the ambition her friend after pouring her acid to prevent her from becoming an air hostess. However, the woman identified as Kanwal Qayyum, 29 is now recovering after doctors began working on her injuries.
According to Sun UK, the woman was horribly injured when she was doused with sulphuric acid while she slept by a bitter former pal who hated the idea of her bettering herself and becoming an air hostess.
She lost her nose in the attack, which happened 10 years ago in Pakistan, and surgeons have spent the past decade painstakingly rebuilding her features. They have completely rebuilt her nose using tissue from her thigh.
One of the medics helping her has been hair transplant surgeon Asim Shahmalak, from Manchester, who travelled to Karachi, Pakistan, to create new eyebrows and eyelashes in the left eyelid for Kanwal.
The new brows and lashes were built using hair taken from the back of her scalp.
Dr Shahmalak, best known for his work with celebrity hair transplant patients like Calum Best at Crown Clinic, was reunited with Kanwal on a trip to Karachi last week where she proudly showed off her new eyebrows and eyelashes which have grown back following his reconstruction work two years ago.
The acid used to attack her can be bought for as little as 15p a bottle in the streets near her home with no questions asked. Before the surgery, she used a black marker to give the impression that she still had eyebrows.
She looked horrible after the attack
Dr Shahmalak is one of only a handful of surgeons in the world who can carry out eyelash and eyebrow transplants. In the UK, he performs these operations on women who have wrecked their brows or lashes through over-plucking or misusing false eyelashes.
Kanwal, who is now planning fresh surgery on her nose, has got married since first being helped by Dr Shahmalak. She wants her story and pictures to be shared to raise awareness about the plight of acid attack victims in Pakistan.
She said: “I cannot thank the doctor enough – he has completely transformed my face and I love my new eyebrows and new eyelashes.”
Father-of-two Dr Shahmalak, who lives with his GP wife Rubina in Cheadle, Manchester, said: “Kanwal is one of the bravest women I have ever met.
“The surgeons have done a remarkable job completely rebuilding her features and I was delighted to be able to help with her eyebrows and new eyelashes.
“It was wonderful to hear how she has turned her life around, found happiness and got married.
“She is now having her nose remodelled and making amazing progress every time I meet her.
“It has been so rewarding to be part of her recovery.”
The reconstruction is going on fine now
Dr Shahmalak met Kanwal again while on a new mercy mission to Pakistan last week. He has identified seven new people he will help with free hair, eyebrow and eyelash transplants later this year. He will take a team from Crown Clinic to carry out the surgical reconstruction.
He spent £50,000 of his own money helping Kanwal and five other women on a previous trip two years ago – one of whom
attacked with acid after turning down
man’s marriage proposal.
Dr Shahmalak, a skilled former NHS surgeon, works with celebrities including Gogglebox’s Chris Steed, football pundit Didi Hamann and Homes Under The Hammer star Martin Roberts.
Narrating how he feels after meeting such women, he said: “I wept when I heard these women’s stories.
“Being doused with acid because you refused a man’s marriage proposal – people were treated better in the Middle Ages.
“Helping to rebuild their faces is some of the most rewarding work that I do. Just seeing their smiles after the surgery makes it all worthwhile.”
Dr Shahmalak, who was born in Karachi but moved to the UK after qualifying as a doctor, was introduced to the patients by the Pakistan-based charity Depilex Smileagain Foundation. The organisations founder, Masarrat Misbah, works to help victims of acid attacks.