A Western Australian woman has been shot in the face during a gap year in the US.

Amy Matthews, 21, was caught in the middle of a shooting that injured 10 bystanders, according to reports in The West Australian.

On their third night in the US they were bar-hopping in the city of New Orleans at 2.45am when the cracking of the gunshots sent people running for their lives.

Amidst the chaos a partial or whole bullet entered Ms Matthews’ mouth through her right cheek and exited through her top lip, causing extensive injuries to her gums, teeth and palate, according to The West Australian.

At the time, she assumed a flailing hand had struck her in the face but when she stopped running, she realised her mouth was full of blood and teeth.

Speaking from her hospital bed at Interim LSU Hospital, Ms Matthews said she felt lucky to be alive.

“I have about 10 teeth left,” she said. “It shattered the top of my palate in four places and ripped my tongue in several places.

“Because the bullet was so hot, it just ripped through my teeth and burnt a lot of my gums. They had to remove a lot of dead gum.

“I think I’m very lucky because I wasn’t the only person who got shot that night.

“There were two people who were critical and they think one of them is going to die.

“I can replace my teeth and my mouth will heal but if it had have been a few centimetres towards my brain or my jugular, who knows?”

Over several hours in the emergency department, Ms Matthews had about 30 stitches put in her tongue and a metal support fixed to the roof of her mouth.

She has since had a visit from New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and her mother Amanda has flown in from Perth to be by her side.

The young male suspects in the shooting fled the scene.

Ms Matthews and a friend had flown to the US for a gap-year holiday.

They had made their way down the east coast from New York City to Nashville, Tennessee, where they hired a car and drove to New Orleans when the incident happened.