Poppers made me lose my vision

The doctor sent me down for a scan of my retina. When it came back he showed me a tiny bump right in the centre.

“I think you have something called Poppers Maculopathy," he explained. “The back of our eyes have cells that allow us to see. But when we want to see something in more detail, we have to look at it with our central vision, using an area of the retina called the macula.

“In recent years there’ve been reports of people damaging their central vision after heavy use of poppers. That’s called maculopathy. We don’t know exactly how, but it seems that the chemicals in poppers damage the macula.”

Far from being a heavy user, I’d tried poppers maybe three times in my life, and I hadn’t done so for over five years. He told me that the vision might improve with time, and that I should take a supplement called Lutein, which is thought to have a role in the protection of the macula.

I walked out feeling numb, terrified at the prospect of a single stupid choice having damaged my vision forever. I squinted to try and make out the signs for Old Street station, and made my way home to do some research. Easier said than done when I couldn’t read my computer screen properly.