A teenager has spoken for the first time of the moment a stranger glassed him in the face and scarred him for life.

The 19-year-old, who police are referring to as John for fear of repercussions, needed 64 stitches after the horrific attack in a crowded pub which severed his tear ducts and left a deep wound in his neck.

He has already endured one unsuccessful operation and faces another to mend his damaged eye.

John, who is speaking out in a bid to catch his attacker, said: "I've come to The Argus because I don't want anyone else to go through the same as me. The next time he might even kill someone."

John was assaulted as he celebrated with friends in the Walkabout bar in West Street, Brighton, at 11.30pm on New Year's Eve.

He was taking his turn to look after their bags while the others danced when he spotted a man staring at him.

John went over to chat to the man, offering to shake his hand. When the man refused, John put his arm around him and offered to buy him a drink.

The man swung around and stabbed him in the eye with a broken beer bottle in an unprovoked attack.

John was slashed a second time across the neck either with the same bottle or by one of the attacker's friends.

He said: "It's unbelievable this happened when all I was trying to do was get this man into the spirit of New Year's Eve. It all happened within 30 seconds.

"At first I thought I'd just been punched. It didn't strike me that I'd been stabbed until I was in the toilets and my friend took his hand off my neck. Blood just squirted out."

John, a plasterer, was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, where he needed 46 stitches around his right eye and 18 stitches in his neck.

His eye constantly waters following an unsuccessful operation to fit artificial tear ducts and he must wait five months before surgeons can try again.

Since the attack, he has worked just three days in his plastering job, which he will have to give up as the high amounts of dust involved will continue to aggravate his eye.

John said: "The seriousness of what's happened is still kicking in.

"This has blown everything apart. Who wants to employ someone who can only work two or three days a week or who might cry off work because his eye is bad?"

PC Jo Quinn, who is leading the investigation by Sussex Police, said: "This is one of the worst injuries I've come across during my career.

"Whoever did this might have bragged about it to their friends. So we are asking anyone who has heard anything to come forward. The culprits must be caught."

The main suspect was in his mid-20s, about 5ft 8in, slim, of eastern European appearance, clean shaven, with short dark hair.

Anyone with information can call PC Quinn on 0845 6070999 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.