A number of people enjoyed poking fun at the ‘coke bottle’ glasses that Hillary Clinton wore during last Tuesday’s congressional testimony about the Benghazi debacle. Many (myself included) speculated that her specs were merely a prop used to make her look smart or perhaps a little bit vulnerable – “you nasty Republicans wouldn’t hit a lady with glasses, would you?”
But an analysis of close-up photographs of Mrs. Clinton during her testimony done by the UK’s Daily Mail showed that Hillary’s glasses contained a removable Fresnel prism for her left eye.
‘If she’s wearing a Fresnel prism, then she has double vision without it,’ said Dr Mark Fromer, medical director at Fromer Eye Centers.
Professor Dan Reinstein, from the London Vision Clinic, told MailOnline that double vision occurs when both eyes are receiving good images individually, but the alignment of the eyes is not exactly parallel, causing the brain to interpret the images as coming from different positions.
‘Fresnel prisms can be used to compensate for the deviation between the eyes,’ he explained.
Professor Reinstein said the Secretary of State’s fall could have affected the muscles that control the movement of her eyes.
‘If indeed Secretary Clinton is wearing a Fresnel prism, and if indeed this is related to what has been described as a result of her recent unfortunate fall, this would imply the head injury may have affected her extraocular muscle balance,’ he said.
Professor Reinstein said such squints are often temporary, or can be corrected by squint surgery.
‘I doubt this will have any effect on her ability to see clearly all the way to 2016,’ he said of the Secretary of State, who is widely expected to run for the presidency in three years time.
The New York Daily News is now reporting that this indeed is the case:
Clinton’s spokesman confirmed Thursday night she is wearing the special glasses as a result of the fall and concussion she suffered last month, but he did not elaborate.
