Domestic violence is a problem that crosses all socio-economic, racial and ethnic boundaries. Once a woman is battered, she may bear the scars of her abuser for life. Now, there's a program that helps erase those physical and perhaps emotional scars as well.

A program sponsored by the Coaltion Against Domestic Violence and the American Academy of Facial and Reconstructive Surgery called Face to Face takes a comprehensive approach to erasing both the emotional and physical scars of an abusive relationship.

Doctors say patients will spend at least a year in counseling helping extricate themselves from the abusive relationship. It's only after they've been out of the relationship for that amount of time when doctors address the surgical needs.

Doctors hope surgery will further restore faith and hope in other people as well as the patients'.

All of the work, counseling, surgery and hospital stay is donated by the participating doctors and medical centers.

Face to Face is a national program. For more information, call 1-800-842-4546.

wilx.com Extended Web Coverage

Fast Facts About National Domestic Violence

• In 92 percent of all domestic violence incidents, crimes are committed by men against women.

• Forty percent of teenage girls age 14 to 17 report knowing someone their age who has been hit or beaten by a boyfriend.

• The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 1.4 million adults are stalked annually in the United States.

• Family violence costs the nation from $5 to $10 billion annually in medical expenses, police and court costs, shelters and foster care, sick leave, absenteeism, and non-productivity.

• Husbands and boyfriends commit 13,000 acts of violence against women in the workplace every year.

• The majority of welfare recipients have experienced domestic abuse in their adult lives and a high percentage are currently abused.

• 31,260 women were murdered by an intimate from 1976-1996.

• In 1996, among all female murder victims in the U.S., 30 percent were slain by their husbands or boyfriends.

• While women are less likely than men to be victims of violent crimes overall, women are five to eight times more likely than men to be victimized by an intimate partner.

Source: http://www.ndvh.org/ndvh2.html ( National Domestic Violence Hotline Web Site)