They say the eyes are the window to the soul, which makes sense ― as a short-sighted gal, I can vouch that both of mine are unfocused and imperfect. But if you’re able to focus and sharpen your vision at will, it turns out you might have surprisingly pumped-up peepers.
Dr. Karan Raj, a doctor who’s known for sharing gasp-worthy medical facts and debunkings on TikTok, recently posted a video on the topic. Reposting user @Sam Cahn, the doc stitched a video which had the caption “Fun fact: some people can unfocus their eyesight (or make their eyesight blurry) on command.”
If you’re one of those people, Dr. Raj says in the video, “you’ve unlocked the world’s most useless superpower.” Here’s how the ocular occurrence works ― and when it might actually be damaging your vision.
It’s all in the eye muscles
“When your focus on an object, your ciliary muscles contract,” the doctor begins. These are teeny-tiny muscles in the eye, and, like with other muscles, are stronger in some people than in others.
Contraction of the ciliary muscles “causes the lens in your eye to become fatter and rounder, increasing the refractive, or light-bending, powers of the lens,” Dr. Raj continued. It’s more or less the same science behind squinting your eyes when you can’t see well ― changing the shape of your eye’s lens can make your vision blurrier or more focused.
“When you intentionally unfocus your eyes, you’re doing a manual system override” by voluntarily relaxing the ciliary muscle, the doctor says. This ‘turn[s] the lens thinner and flatter,” reducing the lens’ power.
The phenomenon has a name ― and doing it too often could damage your sight
Dr. Raj shared that this is known as “negative accommodation,” or “intentional divergent squint.” He added that the process will naturally cause your eyes to drift apart a little.
In other words, the act is basically the literal definition of “Weird flex, but OK.” And while I reckon I’d pull the sight stunt 25/8 myself if I was able, the doctor says that excessively unfocusing your eyes could damage your sight.
While the occasional defocus is harmless, Dr. Raj says that the natural resting state of the eyes is at a point in the distance. “Excessive unfocusing can lead to visual strain and fatigue,” the doctor said, stating that “Constantly shifting between focused and unfocused states might overstimulate the ciliary muscle and the eye’s focusing mechanism.”
“Repeating this divergent squint too often could disrupt your normal binocular vision, coordination between the eyes, and eye alignment,” he adds.
So, you know, focus more on focusing more if you can.
Here’s the whole video: