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Writer's pictureAudrey Oppong
3 min read

Face Blindness: What is it?

Have you ever taken a picture, seen the result, and felt completely unrecognizable? That awkwardness of hating the way you look but not wanting to hold everyone up with a reshoot? Oftentimes, this can be chalked up to poor lighting, bad angles, and a weird facial expression, but for roughly one in fifty people, this seemingly minor inconvenience has neurological roots.



Prosopagnosia (pro-so-pag-NO-zee-ah), more colloquially identified by its misnomer, "face blindness," is a disorder that makes it impossible to recognize faces. The term originates from the Greek words prosopon, for “face,” and agnosia, for “lack of knowledge.” Face blindness is a type of agnosia, an umbrella term for conditions that interfere with the brain's ability to process sensory information. While the disorder is often characterized by an inability to recognize familiar faces, a patient’s symptoms can vary depending largely on the level of impairment. Others may struggle to distinguish the faces of strangers, properly interpret facial cues, or even recognize their own faces, despite otherwise normal vision. Individuals with the disorder, known as prosopagnosics, are often able to see the actual features of a person's visage with no difficulty, but struggle to retain the image. Prosopagnosics experience the condition in different ways, but some common symptoms include:


  • Struggling to describe a person’s face 

  • Confusing characters in TV shows, movies, or games 

  • Describing people with other characteristics 

  • Not recognizing close family or friends 


Prosopagnosia can be divided into two subtypes. The first, apperceptive prosopagnosia, refers to individuals who are unable to identify facial characteristics and are met with a blurred image of someone’s face. Others, who have associative prosopagnosia, can identify facial features with clarity, but cannot associate them with familiar individuals.


Despite popular belief, prosopagnosia does not arise from memory loss, impaired vision, or learning disabilities; it is either developmental or, less commonly, acquired. In the former cases, the disorder stems from a genetic predisposition or damage to the brain in childhood or utero. Congenital prosopagnosia runs in families, meaning it is likely caused by genetic mutations or deletions. In the latter cases, prosopagnosia occurs in older patients after a brain injury or the onset of a neurodegenerative disease. Common causes include stroke and traumatic brain injury (TBI). 


Given the complex brain processes involved in facial recognition, the disease is very difficult to diagnose accurately, and even harder to treat. In order to confirm a diagnosis, doctors may perform neurological exams such as memory and cognitive tests, genetic testing for DNA mutations, or computerized tomography (CT) scans and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to identify brain damage or abnormalities. Treatment is usually aimed at helping individuals find ways to compensate or retraining them to use other clues. Prosopagnosics must often rely on other attributes to identify close friends and family, such as voice, clothing, or major distinguishing physical features. In social settings, many use the "buddy system," relying on companions to identify people and avoid embarrassment. Others may use contextual clues such as location. 


Face blindness is often a source of anxiety and can be socially debilitating for people who live with it. While the condition is usually permanent, advancements in modern medicine exist to give prosopagnosics a variety of options when it comes to treatment and rehabilitation. It’s important to do your part by showing empathy and supporting those around you who may be struggling with the disorder or similar ones. 


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