"I have learnt to see myself after (the attack). If I had seen this photo of myself five or six years ago I would have been in tears," Lefranc said.

"This portraiture allowed me to be a window for people to see the effect that our industry can have on just normal, everyday people," Rankin told Reuters.

Lefranc's since jailed attacker, who she says harassed her after she split with him, had posed as a delivery man when he doused her with acid.

The mother of three, whose face and body are laced with scars, spent three months in a coma after the attack and has undergone over 100 operations.