A shop worker has been left with "serious, potentially life-changing injuries" after he had sprayed ammonia in his face, police said.
The 29-year-old man was attacked by another man as he chased a 46-year-old female shoplifter out of the shop he worked in on Cardigan Road, Bow.
Police were called to the shop around 5.45pm on December 27.
The suspect was described as a white male in his 20s, with short blonde or ginger hair.
He was wearing jeans and a dark-coloured jacket.
The woman was arrested on suspicion of GBH and shoplifting, and later charged with theft.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “Detectives are appealing for information and witnesses after a shop worker was sprayed with a noxious substance.
“Police were called at around 17:45hrs on 27 December to reports of a man injured after being sprayed with a substance in Cardigan Road, Bow E3.
“The victim, a 29-year-old man, was attacked by a man as he pursued on foot a female suspected of shoplifting out of the store he worked at.
“The substance, believed to be ammonia, was sprayed in the man's face, causing serious potentially life-changing injuries.”
Anyone who was in the area at the time of the incident and has information about what happened or the attacker should contact police on 101 quoting CAD 4848/27DEC18.
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