What is Face Blindness?

It’s called prosopagnosia or face blindness. Lee Health Family Medicine Physician Dr. Gerry Tolbert said those dealing with it can see faces, but won’t recognize them, “So I see your face, but it’s just eyes, and nose, and a mouth. It’s like looking at an emoji every time I look at a person, so I don’t see Dan, or Fred, or Jill, I see smiley face, smiley face, smiley face.”

Dr. Tolbert said it stems from a problem inside the brain, “Part of the brain that were still working on understanding, just doesn’t communicate with the other part. What you’re getting is you get the information, it comes in as far as we can tell, people are still seeing the same faces, it’s just a part of the brain that processes that face doesn’t connect it to the information that you stored about that person.”

It can come from a variety of causes, including stroke or brain underdevelopment. “If it happens because of something like a stroke, it’s going to be fairly rapid. If it happens because of development or if it’s something that wasn’t structurally working at birth, they may not even realize that it’s something that’s missing, because of that it can be different for each person,” said Dr. Tolbert.

Treatment for face blindness can be tricky. “Is there a way to fix the problem, or treat the problem? Yes, there are lots of strategies and things that can be done from a lifestyle perspective, but in terms of actually fixing the brain itself no,” said Dr. Tolbert. “You may know what their voice sounds like. You may know how tall they are. You may know what their likes are and their dislikes, but you can’t take their face and attach it to the same information.”

Prosopagnosia can also affect someone’s ability to recognize objects. If you have concerns about face blindness, it’s best to speak with your doctor.

Lee Health in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of health care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For more than 100 years, we’ve been providing our community with personalized preventative health services and primary care to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries. Lee Health - Caring People. Inspiring Care.

[jimnorthland]

Humor for colorblind people.
Empathy for visual blind people.
Rage for faceblind people.
I lived for sixty years not knowing what was wrong with me. It helps me to feel a little better, but nothing is going to repair the intensely low self esteem, loneliness and loss of interpersonal opportunity. Born with it, as was every member of my family for generations.

[bamboopanda]

I recognize people but it takes a while. It helps that they're in the right place but I have a hard time when people are out of context or I don't expect to see them.

[paulohagan]

'...they may not realise there's something wrong.' Right. I have a mild form of it but I never realised it until my 40s.

[anthonynapier]

The hospital where I live does this to you as a service for the local gang...