Experts have shared shared their verdict over what could have caused the right side of Donald Trump’s face to drop yesterday during an event to commemorate the 9/11 attacks. Viewers shared health fears for the US President at the time. Some suggested that he had had a stroke. Jeremy Kaplowitz said: “So this guy like 100% had a stroke right?” @BoyForida wrote: “One of my sons is a physician who spends the bulk of his time doing procedures in a large hospital system.

“He and his colleagues were all saying Trump had a stroke.” @taradublinrocks said: “This is what a stroke looks like I wonder if anyone close to Trump is acting FAST or they’re just going to keep letting him decline in real time in front of the entire world.” @ComicsMeta said the President “shows visible signs of having had a stroke”. It has been reported that President Trump was out of the White House press pool’s sight at a New York Yankees baseball game for 46 minutes yesterday. Closed doors made it “impossible to peer in” for most of this period.

Now, a lecturer of Biomedical Science at the University of Salford, Dr Gareth Nye, has shared his insight.

He told the Express: “Having watched the full video of his appearance during the event, I think this might be some well timed photos which have captured something that looks worse than it is.

“There appears to be no issue in speech, movement or cognition during the event.

“It is true that facial drooping can be an indicator of stroke particularly if the lower part of the face is drooping e.g mouth area.

“One of the specific signs of stroke compared with other facial droop conditions is the ability to symmetrically raise eyebrows.

“If a patient can do this but cant do the same with the lips, it is highly likely a stroke has occurred.”

Other conditions could lead to the facial symptom seen yesterday, Dr Nye suggested.

He said: “There have been suggestions that President Trump has been undergoing treatment to prevent strokes over the past year.

“Other conditions which could lead to facial drooping include Bell’s Palsy which is a facial nerve condition leading to temporary paralysis on the whole side of the patients face.

“Additionally, if the president did have clear and obvious facial dropping, I’m certain he would have been taken away for medical assistance immediately, time is always of the essence in strokes.”

Family medic Dr Kathie Allen also refuted theories involving a stroke.

She wrote: “Sorry, medical doctor here, and I deplore Trump, but this could be explained by Bell’s palsy also, a benign condition where a facial nerve is temporarily (and sometimes permanently) out of commission.

“Stop automatically assuming it is due to a stroke.

“With the best medical care available to him, if he had stroke symptoms, he would have been rushed to the hospital to receive blood thinners to reverse the damage.

“This is why it is important to reach a hospital within a four hour window after a stroke.

“Harder to reverse the damage later on.”

Stroke symptoms

The NHS says the main symptoms of a stroke can happen suddenly.

These may include:

  • face weakness – one side of your face may droop (fall) and it might be hard to smile
  • arm weakness – you may not be able to fully lift both arms and keep them there because of weakness or numbness in 1 arm
  • speech problems – you may slur your words or sound confused