Woman treated at world-renowned Essex burns unit trained as a nurse after she was inspired by staff

A woman who was burned as a child said the work of one of the world's most renowned burns centres has made her a new person.

Dilara Koc, 25, was eight years old when scalding hot cooking oil burnt her face and body.

“I didn’t look in the mirror for months. It felt like my identity was stolen," she told ITV News Anglia.

"I’ve noticed stares, not just a one-off stare, but comments made between people.

“I’ve had relationships in the past where they’ve used [my burn] against me. I get comments belittling me.”

Ms Koc has been under the care of a world-leading medical team at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford in their specialist St Andrew's Burns Centre, to which ITV News Anglia was given rare access.

There they have used laser technology to put tiny holes into her skin, breaking up scars to allow for movement and elasticity.

The team have also used the lasers to change the pigment of the scar, to match her face.

Ms Koc, who trained to be a nurse after being inspired by those who have helped her, said the work had had a profound effect on her.

“I feel more confident," she said. "I feel better with the overall look of my scar.”

Leonie Johnson, 23, has noticed similar comments about her own body after suffering a burn as a baby.

On one of her first nights out aged 18, not wearing fake tan, a man pointed at her burn scars to tell her "your fake tan is patchy".

Ms Johnson added: “I was taken aback a little bit. I wasn’t comfortable staying there and wanted to go home.

“Laser surgery has made my scar the exact same colour of my skin, so I don’t feel ashamed to go out."

Quentin Frew, a burns and plastic reconstructive surgeon at the hospital, said the team could now help more people because of advances in technology and the way the team uses it.He said: “In Chelmsford we do have such unique work going on. We do get referrals from the whole world and within Europe.

"We’re able to increase patients' range of motion [in a way] that’s never been done before, reduce their itches, and increase their quality of life.”

Mr Frew has travelled abroad to teach other surgeons how to better support people with burns.

He added: “The one message I’d like to get out there to patients with burn scars and other scars in the rest of the UK - something might be able to be done in this unique centre.”

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