Woman's nose was sliced off by her husband

A Indonesian woman who spent three years living without a nose after her husband
sliced it off with a machete has been fitted with a prosthetic thanks to an Oscar-winning special effects artist.

Yustince, 30, was brutally attacked by her abusive partner and spent years hiding the gaping wounds on her face with a piece of gauze.

But now she has finally been able to remove the bandages after the Grossman Burn Foundation - a non-profit dedicated to healthcare - asked Hollywood-based Alec Gillis to make her a custom-made prosthesis.

Mr Gillis who has created makeup effects for dozens of films including Jumanji, Alien vs Predator and Cast Away told ABC 7: 'We're normally the ones scarring people with our scary monsters, so it's nice to be able to heal a scar.'

Thousands of miles away from Yustince at his studio in Chatsworth, Los Angeles, Mr Gills created a number of prototypes using photographs and measurements of her face.

He matched the images to a color chart to get the best skin tone match.

Some of the noses can be glued directly to the face, while others can be attached using magnets and clipped on to eyeglasses.

Dr Rebecca Grossman, chair of the Grossman Burn Foundation, which is based in California said she approached Mr Gillis after hearing about Yustince's story.

'I went to him and asked, ''Do you think you could do this?'' He said, ''No problem,'' she recalled.

'We're so grateful that he jumped right in there and what he's provided us with, it's going to change her life.'

Mrs Grossman traveled to Indonesia to fit Yustince with the prosthetic nose. She also showed her how to apply it and take it off whenever she wanted.

Randy Roberson, co-founder Disaster Logistics Relief LTD, who was there when the fitting took place said that the room was full of tension when Yustince looked at her new nose for the first time.

He wrote:: 'I watched her face closely when the hand mirror was first given to her so she could see how it looked.

'She was silent and moved the mirror from side to side to look at her face from all angles.  Then, ever so slightly, you could see the corners of her mouth turn into a smile that I liken only to that of the Mona Lisa.'

The Grossman Burn Foundation team explained that once it was fitted 'she was able to reconnect with the present situation'.

Because it's a prototype, the nose still needs some refining and Mrs Grossman took a mold of Yustince's daughter's nose to provide Mr Gillis with more to go on.

Mrs Grossman's husband Peter, a certified plastic surgeon, also said that Yustince would make an ideal candidate for nasal reconstruction using a paramedian forehead flap - a surgical technique to repair nasal defects - since her forehead is unscarred.

The Grossmans have become well known for their work around the world and one of their patients - an 18-year-old Afghan woman who was sentenced by a Taliban commander to have her nose and ears cut off for fleeing her abusive in-laws - was pictured on the cover of Time Magazine.