Acid Attack Survivor, 22, Says Her Face ‘Disintegrated,’ Shares Recovery After ‘Traumatic Experience’ (Exclusive)

A New York woman has undergone more than a dozen surgeries and is trying to regain her confidence after suffering third-degree burns from a horrific acid attack that changed her life.

Around 1 a.m. on December 2, 2022, Juanita Jimenez was on her way to work at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, where she is a primary care assistant. However, her routine subway journey turned disastrous when a woman, later identified as Rodlin Gravesande after her arrest, threw sulfuric acid at her in an unprovoked attack.

Jimenez, 22, first noticed her attacker making a mess on the train while she was on her way to work. After she arrived at her station and started to leave the station, she noticed that a woman got off the train behind her.

“She followed me down the platform,” she tells PEOPLE. “She didn’t tell me anything directly. I didn’t tell her anything. But when we got to the top of the stairs at the railway station, that’s when she threw acid at me and ran away before I could open my eyes.”

“And since it was one o’clock in the morning, I was the only one at that moment,” she adds. “So it just seemed like she was aiming for me. I was the only young lady there.”

Juanita Jimenez.

Credit: Juanita Jimenez

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At the time of the attack, Jimenez did not know that it was acid, at first she believed that it was some kind of “poison” thrown at her.

“I just knew right away that it hurt. As soon as it touched my skin, it was painful,” she recalls, noting that the acid burned every layer of winter clothing she was wearing. “I had a mask on and it immediately burned through my mask and landed on my face. I had a scarf, it burned through the scarf. I had a coat, it burned through my coat. Even my sweater was burnt, my pants, everything. There were a lot of holes in everything.”

The Harlem native quickly walked the two blocks to the hospital where she told her co-workers about the incident.

As a member of the hospital staff, Jimenez already knew the “unknown substance protocol” and began flushing after arriving in the emergency room. She says she was “distraught” and in “excruciating pain” before doctors decided to transfer her to Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx for further care in the hospital’s burn unit.

Juanita Jimenez in the hospital after the attack.

Credit: Juanita Jimenez

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Jimenez – who is also a student at Lehman College – suffered second- and third-degree burns on the left side of her face, causing her nostril to “fall apart” and a blood vessel under her cheek to be completely damaged. She spent seven days in the burns intensive care unit and underwent multiple surgeries to remove dead and infected skin.

Since leaving the hospital, Jimenez has had a long road to recovery, undergoing 16 surgeries and counting.

As a model who took a lot of natural photos without makeup, Jimenez says her “self-confidence and self-esteem dropped a lot” after the attack left her with significant facial scarring. She recalls “crying every night” and admits the experience still affects her mental health as she can’t go anywhere without being asked about it and having to “relive the traumatic experience”.

“It was up and down, a roller coaster of emotions since the attack,” she explains. “There will be days like I’m falling into depression and stuff like that. Some days it’s really hard to get out of bed. For the first eight months after the attack, I did not leave the house.”

Juanita Jimenez meeting with Dr. Carl Truesdale.

Credit: Juanita Jimenez

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“But luckily, I go to therapy every week,” she says, noting that she has PTSD and takes mental health very seriously. “I take time for myself and allow myself to feel my emotions and cry and be depressed and then come back from it.”

After seeing the burns on her face, Jimenez says she immediately knew she wanted to find a doctor who could perform reconstructive surgery and try to bring her face as close to its original state as possible and restore her confidence.

Jimenez spent months researching and finally spoke with Dr. Carl Truesdale, a Los Angeles plastic surgeon who offered to perform the surgery pro bono after hearing her story.

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Juanita Jimenez before and after reconstructive surgery.

Credit: Juanita Jimenez

Last month, Jimenez traveled from New York to California and Truesdale performed a cervicofacial flap on her – the first of his planned reconstructive surgeries. Jimenez has since documented her journey on social media, hoping that others who have gone through similar experiences can be optimistic about progress.

“I want other burn victims to know that there is a chance to get your confidence back and face it again. I just wanted to show the whole process of it,” she says. “And since then, loads of acid patients – and even burn patients in general – have reached out for advice on surgery and ways to stay positive.”

“My goal is to help people with mental health and knowing that even if you suffer from trauma, you can still be positive,” she continues. “Some days are harder than others, but we can still push forward.”

Although she is still recovering from surgery and has more procedures to do, Jimenez tells PEOPLE that she is already extremely happy with the results.

“Dr. Truesdale did an amazing job and I’m really grateful for that,” she says. “I’m finally getting my confidence back. Of course it’s not 100% back because I have more surgeries. But I’m doing my best.”

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Source: HIS Education