Joe Mazza lost his eyesight and was nicknamed “Joey Bats” 23 years ago Thu 24 February 2022 16:05 Helen Williams
William Burgess 
Joe Mazza and Noel Gatts are working their magic for prospective homeowners in and around New York City on HGTV’s Home Inspector Joe in 2022. The show kicked off on January 19th and sees Joe check out homes before people wind themselves up with a money pit. Joe says on the show: “When I’m inspecting a house, I’m inspecting in like my family are going to move into it“…
The show airs each Wednesday on HGTV and follows home inspector Joe Mazza as he and designer Noel Gatts ensure that peoples’ homes are habitable before moving in. Joe has been in the construction industry for over 20 years. So, let’s find out more about the HGTV star, was he blind?
Was Joe Mazza blind?
Yes, Joe Mazza lost his sight 23 years ago due to a condition called keratoconus. In a 2022 interview with Realtor.com, Joe said that he “had two cornea transplants” to get his sight back.
Speaking of his reality TV experiences, Joe revealed that he appeared on Miami Ink to get his first tattoo around 12 or 13 years ago.
Joe said: “It’s on the inside of my right bicep. It’s a bat holding two eyeballs. My friends started calling me Joey Bats because I was blind as a bat. So as a joke, it stuck, and that’s my name now.“
As per Joe’s Instagram post from 2017, he had cornea transplants which were donated by the parents of a seven-year-old child who passed away in Ohio. Joe wrote: “Moral of my story is, don’t take anything for granted, especially your health“.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Joe Mazza Home Inspections (@joemazzahomeinspections)
Home Inspector Joe has another nickname, too
As per Joe’s interview with Realtor.com, he also added that he has another nickname of ‘Mad Sniffer’ because when he lost his eyesight, his sense of smell heightened.
Joe said: “When you lose a sense like eyesight or hearing, something else kicks in. So when I lost my eyesight, my sense of smell really got strong, and it works in my business because all I do is smell around a house, and it allows me to find issues in the home.“
Joe’s line of work sees him uncover all kinds of issues inside homes including mould, infestations and all kinds of hazardous situations – his eyes and nose probably take a hit most days!
Joe Mazza isn’t blind anymore
Speaking of his eye condition, Joe revealed that it was over two decades ago that he had surgery and regained his eyesight. As per Apartment Therapy, eye disease keratoconus affects the cornea’s structure, which resulted in Joe going blind for a year and a half.
Nowadays, he’s able to see and spends his days inspecting homes, being a husband to his wife, Sonia Cipriano, and a father to his daughter Gigi.
Joe often takes to the ‘gram and can be found on IG @joemazzahomeinspections with around 17k followers. Joe’s brother is businessman Brian Mazza, who is married to reporter Chloe Melas.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Joe Mazza Home Inspections (@joemazzahomeinspections)
WATCH HOME INSPECTOR JOE ON HGTV WEDNESDAYS AT 9 PM ET
