Election Extra! Now see this!

President-elect Donald Trump may just be intent on looking into the future. But it’s clear that he is often squinting. We asked Doheny Eye Institute Dr. John Irvine, a specialist in conditions of the cornea and external eye, to answer a couple of questions about issues for squinters.

Why do people squint?
Optically, it creates a relative “pinhole vision”. When you get someone’s vision without having them look through a pinhole they have all these rays of light entering and coming to a focus – like the end of ice cream cone. The rays of light that don’t need to be bent or refracted come through the center of the cone. When you squint, it decreases the aperture, creating a relative pinhole effect. That cuts out all of those peripheral light rays so that you can focus.
In Donald Trump’s case, it could mean he needs glasses to see really well. He might be not wearing his glasses because he doesn’t have a big refractive error, so he can get by. But if he really wants to see well he might squint a bit.

Mr. Trump doesn’t seem to make use of glasses. Can there be negative repercussions for getting by with consistently blurry vision?
A lot of people go around with uncorrected vision, and they squint. The muscle action required might give some people a bit of tension headache but no permanent damage.

John A. Irvine, MD, specializes in conditions of the cornea and external eye, and sees patients at Doheny Eye Center UCLA in Pasadena and Arcadia. Dr. Irvine has been voted a Top Doctor by Pasadena Magazine and named among “America’s Top Doctors”. He strives to educate patients about their eye health, to improve their experience and the outcomes of treatment.