What happened to Fetty Wap's eye? The rumors get it wrong

Fetty Wap lost his left eye as an infant to congenital glaucoma — a rare childhood eye disease — and he's been telling the real story since 2015.

What actually happened

Born Willie Maxwell II in Paterson, New Jersey, on June 7, 1991, he was diagnosed with congenital glaucoma at around six months old. The condition stops fluid from draining out of the eye; pressure builds up and destroys the optic nerve. Doctors expected him to lose both eyes — but a specialist in Philadelphia managed to save the right one.

He set the record straight in a 2015 interview with DJ Self on Shade 45:

"The doctor saved one. I was blessed to still have my vision."

That's the whole story, in his own words — no shooting, no accident worth the mythology.

Why he doesn't wear the prosthetic

He did, for years. After reconstructive surgery at age 12, Fetty wore an ocular prosthesis through childhood, despite being bullied and getting into school fights over it. As a teenager he simply stopped — "I didn't want to look like everyone else," as he later put it. By the time "Trap Queen" made him a star in 2015, the bare eye was part of his identity, and he has described himself as one of the first artists to arrive on the scene with one eye and be completely comfortable with it.

The rumors, debunked

• "He was shot" — the most persistent one, and false. The eye was gone roughly two decades before anyone knew his name.
• "He lost it in a fight" — also false, though the bullying over his prosthetic did lead to plenty of childhood fights.
• "Fireworks / vaping accident" — pure internet invention, with no basis in anything he has ever said.

Where is Fetty Wap now?

The eye is the least of his recent news. Arrested in October 2021 over his role in a drug-trafficking ring, he was sentenced to six years in federal prison and served his time at FCI Sandstone in Minnesota. He was released in January 2026 — 11 months ahead of his original December 2026 release date.

For the record: Fetty has said the surviving eye tests better than 20/20. He didn't just keep his vision. He upgraded it.