Do you live with face blindness?

[Anonymous]

I’m borderline. I’ve always recommended people by the way they move/stand, clothing and hair. I’ve still had some embarrassing mess ups over the past year or two.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t start suspecting I had it till a couple of years ago, in part because I’m not sure I’d ever heard of it until a couple of years ago.

It’s better with some people than others, and I’m not sure why. It’s definitely not amount of exposure, because I’ve been married for almost 20 years and am still surprised by my husband’s exact looks. I have a general idea, but if I’m always surprised when I look extra closely, like on a FaceTime call. I also have trouble picking him out in a crowd compared to men with similar hair and build unless I know what he’s wearing. Luckily I find him very handsome, so it’s always a pleasant surprise!

I also have no idea what I look like, but that one makes more sense. Mirrors aren’t quite accurate and every photo is slightly different.

No real coping strategies other than voices. And photos — I remember better when I repeatedly see photos of the people. It’s like I can memorize them from photos in a way I can’t from life. (Possibly related: my husband hates being in photos. Hm…)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you manage? I think I have a mild case of it. I often run into people I should know immediately and it takes me a minute to register. Is this the kind of condition that can worsen?

People on the spectrum are either really good at facial recognition and details, or really bad.

Most people are in between skewed toward one or the other.

[Anonymous]

I have it, and it sucks. The medical term is prosopagnosia. I have MS, and I am convinced there is a correlation between the two.

It happens with generic faces for me. If nothing about you stands out, there's a good chance I won't remember your face even if I have seen you multiple times. I try to find something about the person that stands out, like if they have red hair or large blue eyes, or dimples. The more unique the person looks, the less impactful the blindness is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you an introvert? I just read somewhere that introverts don’t get the dopamine hit from viewing faces and this happens as a result.

Oh my gosh, that makes so much sense!

[Anonymous]

I had no idea that there was a name for this until maybe 10 years ago. I'm relieved to know that it's not just me. I'm an expert at teasing out enough details about a person until enough is revealed and I know who I'm talking to. You know how, in detective shows, the victim has to describe the perpetrator and then a sketch artist renders a likeness of that person? The same person could rob me 10 times and I'd probably have a sense that it was the same person, but I could never describe their face.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had no idea that there was a name for this until maybe 10 years ago. I'm relieved to know that it's not just me. I'm an expert at teasing out enough details about a person until enough is revealed and I know who I'm talking to. You know how, in detective shows, the victim has to describe the perpetrator and then a sketch artist renders a likeness of that person? The same person could rob me 10 times and I'd probably have a sense that it was the same person, but I could never describe their face.

DH always says I’d be the worst witness to a crime. Not only could I not identify anyone, but I wouldn’t know which direction they went because I’m equally bad at faces and directions.

[Anonymous]

You just deal with it.

I rely heavily on hairstyle and clothes to identify people and even then I generally wait for them to greet me first.

Hair cuts are the worst. One time a friend with curly hair had her hair in top bun and I couldn’t recognize her

[Anonymous]

I don’t think I have full-blown face blindness. But I am bad at recognizing people sometimes, and it seems to take a while for their faces to kind of swim into focus before I get the aha moment of realizing who they are.

On the other hand, I’ve always had a good sense of direction.

[Anonymous]

This is me. I need to meet someone a few times to remember their face.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m borderline. I’ve always recommended people by the way they move/stand, clothing and hair. I’ve still had some embarrassing mess ups over the past year or two.

+1, posture is a big clue for me. But I think most people's faces look alike, especially men. DH teases me about the 3 or 4 actors I always confuse.

I am an introvert but have a fantastic sense of direction.

[Anonymous]

At a concert last month I went up to a woman who I thought was a friend I hadn't seen in long time. Nope.

I have two teen daughters and unless it's a kid I've known a long time I don't remember their friends. I couldn't tell you who half of the girls on my daughter's soccer team are. At least during games they have numbers to know who is who.

I would never recognize a celebrity in real life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You just deal with it.

I rely heavily on hairstyle and clothes to identify people and even then I generally wait for them to greet me first.

Hair cuts are the worst. One time a friend with curly hair had her hair in top bun and I couldn’t recognize her

Minor changes throw me off. I never get it when one actor is playing identical twins but with different hair styles. Like the insurance product commercial with the actor playing her sister, had no idea it was the same actor or that the characters were meant to be twins.

The odd thing is, I am very aware about how people can have small similar attributes. I see the pieces but not the whole. Like those kid books with different pages of eyes, lips, noses to mix up. I can see my sibling friends have the same checkbones, that cousins have the same thin upper lip, or my brother's jaw is like Kurt Russell in a specific movie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had no idea that there was a name for this until maybe 10 years ago. I'm relieved to know that it's not just me. I'm an expert at teasing out enough details about a person until enough is revealed and I know who I'm talking to. You know how, in detective shows, the victim has to describe the perpetrator and then a sketch artist renders a likeness of that person? The same person could rob me 10 times and I'd probably have a sense that it was the same person, but I could never describe their face.

I was just saying this to dh a few weeks ago. We’ve been married 25 years but if they asked me to do a sketch of him, I’d be like “long face and….. maybe green eyes?” But I recognize him really easily in a crowd - but I think it’s the “features” and not the face. So, hair color, beard, posture etc. I don’t think I have this disorder, because I’ve read about it and it’s a true face blindness and not just “I’m bad with faces”. But I’m definitely bad with faces.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You just deal with it.

I rely heavily on hairstyle and clothes to identify people and even then I generally wait for them to greet me first.

Hair cuts are the worst. One time a friend with curly hair had her hair in top bun and I couldn’t recognize her

Minor changes throw me off. I never get it when one actor is playing identical twins but with different hair styles. Like the insurance product commercial with the actor playing her sister, had no idea it was the same actor or that the characters were meant to be twins.

The odd thing is, I am very aware about how people can have small similar attributes. I see the pieces but not the whole. Like those kid books with different pages of eyes, lips, noses to mix up. I can see my sibling friends have the same checkbones, that cousins have the same thin upper lip, or my brother's jaw is like Kurt Russell in a specific movie.

Ha! I don’t think I have face blindness, but I rely heavily on context, hair color, height, etc. So your first paragraph describes me watching Orphan Black where the same actress plays several clones. DH would say “that’s another clone,” and I’d be like— “but her hair is blonde. Are you sure?” Same actress.

Also, when I was younger, I didn’t understand that people meant when they said siblings looked alike unless they had the same exact hair and same eye color. People meant facial features, but I couldn’t understand how they could tell.

That said, I do recognize friends and family just fine. If I saw a famous actor on the street, I’d have no idea who it was.