# Why do some blind people look alike?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-blind-people-look-alike/186023>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 3, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-blind-people-look-alike/186023 "2003-07-03T13:59:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-blind-people-look-alike/186023/1 "2003-07-03T13:59:40Z")

</div>

I’ve noticed that, among some blind people, there seems to be a few similarities in facial features. They have very prominent brows and orbital cavities and extremely deep set eyes.

Does this group of physical traits indicate a certain type of blindness?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-blind-people-look-alike/186023/2 "2003-07-03T14:04:21Z")

</div>

Could it be that the muscles within the eye orbits (the ones that move the eyes around) are atrophied due to lack of use?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-blind-people-look-alike/186023/3 "2003-07-03T15:18:38Z")

</div>

Yeah, but to blind people, we ALL look alike!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-blind-people-look-alike/186023/4 "2003-07-03T17:43:54Z")

</div>

I think that the appearance of facial similiarities may also be attibuted to the cause of the blindness. Perhaps, a particular genetic defect was the cause of the blindness, thus, also the cause of certain common facial features. Like with people born with Down’s Syndrome.  
But, it could also be no different than 2 redheads that aren’t related sharing other common features other than hair color. There are only so many genetic combinations among humans, therefore we keep seeing the same ol’ patterns. Even in blind people

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![slipster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@slipster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slipster)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-blind-people-look-alike/186023/5 "2003-07-03T22:54:40Z")

</div>

People who are born blind, or who went blind very, very early in life, often have faces that seem somewhat puffy and sort of slack. This is at least in part because they do not exercise their facial muscles making expressions, as this is behavior which is learned from observation.