A MAN has been left scarred for life after a horrific glass attack on a night out in Bolton.

Foster Gee, aged 29, was hit in the face by a man brandishing a pint glass while he was in a popular night spot with his father.

The attack left him with a five-inch gash to his cheek which left two rows of teeth showing.

And today, after surgeons inserted more than 200 stitches in the wound, Mr Gee said: "I've lost my smile forever." The unemployed welder had been in Taskers Club, Manchester Road, with his 60-year-old father when he was attacked.

As police today continued their hunt for his attacker, Mr Gee called for the introduction of special glasses in pubs and clubs which cannot cause such injuries.

"I'll never go back into Bolton until they get rid of glass at every bar in the town," he said. Mr Gee, of Rutherford House, Over Hulton, narrowly escaped death when a pint glass was thrust into his face with such force that it broke and cut through his cheek, narrowly missing an artery.

Just seconds later he was hit across the forehead with a glass bottle that failed to smash. Detectives investigating the incident have described the attack as "horrendous".

Mr Gee underwent a four-hour operation at a specialist facial injuries unit at Wythenshawe Hospital after being transferred from the Royal Bolton Hospital..

Surgeons put five layers of stitches into his face to join the skin back together.

He now faces years of operations and therapy to restore the use of muscles and nerves in his face.

Today he branded the attacker as "scum".

He said: "It's a disgusting thing to hit someone with what could be a deadly weapon.

"I'm lucky to be alive. That glass just nicked an artery in my face and I could have bled to death. If the bottle had smashed above my eye I would have lost my vision."

"I've only had about five hours sleep since because of nightmares and I'm going to see a counsellor."

Mr Gee said he had drunk only one pint of lager before he was attacked.

"I didn't know that he'd hit me with a glass at first and then when I got hit again, I just dropped to the floor to protect myself," he said.

"All I remember after that is being outside and being soaked head-to-toe in blood. There was blood spraying out everywhere.

"I could see people looking at me and the look on their faces said everything. It didn't hurt because of the shock, but it felt like my whole face was hanging off."

Mr Gee spent two days in the facial unit at Wythenshawe before being released.

"I've lost my looks forever, but I know I was lucky not have been killed," he said.

"It's cut through all the muscles in my face and the doctors said that I'll look as though I've had a stroke for a few years before the use of the muscles starts to come back."

"I can't eat and I have to take water with me everywhere I go because the saliva glands in my mouth aren't working. The doctors were brilliant and I'm lucky that this happened at a time when they can do a lot for injuries like this. What worries me is how my face is going to look for the rest of my life."

Mr Gee, a former George Tomlinson School pupil, called for all bars, pubs and clubs in Bolton to get rid of glass bottles and pint glasses and replace them with plastic or glass which disintegrates on impact.

"You can't take a knife into a bar, so why let people walk around all night with a deadly weapon?" he said. "All the bars in Manchester have got rid of glass, so why is Bolton years behind?"

John Jewitt, secretary of Bolton Licensees Alliance and landlord of the Man and Scythe pub, said: "Ninety per cent of the pint glasses that are used around Bolton are the shatterproof type which can't be used to attack someone in this way. I would like to see their use made mandatory."

Steven Rogers, manager of Taskers, said after the incident: "It's a shock for everyone. We've been open for 15 years and nothing like this has happened before."

Police have have appealed to clubgoers who were in Taskers at the time to come forward with information.

Det Con Rick Armstrong said: "This was an attack which has had horrendous consequences.

"Somebody in the club must have seen what happened and we would urge people to come forward and speak to us.

"In particular, there was a witness called Mandy who tended to the victim outside and may have seen something in the club. We would like speak to her."

Anyone with information is asked to call CID on 0161 856 5740 or Crimestoppers anonymously on free phone 0800 555 111.