How People With Medical Conditions See The World — Split image showing TikTok meme comparing medical conditions to how people see the world, with a frosty

How People With Medical Conditions See The World

2022catchphrasesemi-active

Published November 11, 2026

How People With Medical Conditions See The World is a TikTok catchphrase that frames short video simulations of conditions like dyslexia, migraine aura, and visual impairments. Nurse creator @nursemattnam launched the format in April 2022, and by late 2023 TikTokers were flipping the serious tone into absurd parodies of made-up illnesses.

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Overview

Videos under this caption usually open on a plain scene, like text on a page or a street view, then distort that scene to show what a specific condition looks or feels like from the inside. Creators tend to pair the visual effect with a short on-screen title naming the condition, and many lean on educational framing from medical credentials shown in bio or voiceover12.

The format spans ophthalmologists demonstrating eye conditions, nurses showing cognitive effects, and lay creators sharing lived experience with chronic illness56. Early entries aimed to explain, often citing symptoms in captions, while the 2023 wave turned the caption into a punchline for invented disorders such as "dislexicism," where the gag is the condition being nonsense34.

Origin & Background

Platform
TikTok
Creator
nursemattnam
Date
2022

Registered nurse @nursemattnam posted the earliest widely circulated entry on April 6, 2022, demonstrating how text appears to someone with dyslexia. The TikTok pulled more than 12.2 million views and 1.2 million likes, and the creator followed it with more condition walkthroughs under the same framing14.

The caption "How People With Medical Conditions See The World" stuck as a header other creators adopted when making their own simulation clips. Ophthalmologist @brianboxerwachlermd, for example, used the format to show how certain vision disorders alter everyday scenes5.

How It Spread

On October 16, 2022, TikToker @starnpc posted the first entry of a 44-part simulation series, opening with aura migraines and gathering roughly 7.9 million views and 450,000 likes over the following year2. The multi-part structure gave viewers a reason to return, and the hashtag collected contributions from both medical professionals and patients describing their own experiences.

TikToker @gapplebackup joined the trend in 2022 with an entry in the same explanatory style7, while @itsdrmax, a doctor account, added a 2023 clip that kept the educational tone going even as parody versions started appearing elsewhere6. By late 2023 the caption was circulating in mixed registers, with some videos still earnest and others pitched for engagement bait4.

The parody turn crystallized on November 21, 2023, when @johnmarcvanwyk3 posted a clip about the fictional condition "dislexicism," acting out speaking sentences in jumbled order and collecting more than 5,600 likes within two months3. A December 7, 2023, entry from @enigmaworldwide kept the format active into the end of that year8.

Timeline

2022-04-06

Nurse @nursemattnam posts the dyslexia simulation TikTok that establishes the format[1].

2022-07-30

@gapplebackup uploads an early entry under the same simulation framing[7].

2022-10-16

@starnpc begins a 44-part medical conditions series, opening with aura migraines[2].

2022-11-21

Ophthalmologist @brianboxerwachlermd uses the format to demonstrate a vision disorder[5].

2023-02-25

Doctor account @itsdrmax posts an entry keeping the educational framing alive[6].

2023-11-21

@johnmarcvanwyk3 posts a parody clip about the invented condition "dislexicism," marking the trend's shift toward absurdism[3].

2023-12-07

@enigmaworldwide contributes a late-2023 entry in the same caption style[8].

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