Shenaz Treasury Diagnosed With Prosopagnosia; Know About The Condition That Causes 'Face Blindness'

What Is Prosopagnosia?

Prosopagnosia - also known as face blindness - is the inability to recognise faces. It is a brain disorder in which a person may find it difficult to distinguish the faces of strangers. Some people may even have difficulty recognising familiar faces [1].

It is estimated that approximately 2 per cent of the population suffers from this condition. People with face blindness are often affected from birth and experience this condition most of their lives. Therefore, it can significantly affect one's quality of life.

The condition is also known as facial/visual agnosia. German neurosurgeon Joachim Bodamer coined the term prosopagnosia in 1947 in a landmark paper that described the case of two people who were unable to recognise faces. A person can typically recognise and remember more than 5000 faces throughout their lifetime [2].

What Causes Prosopagnosia?

There are two types of prosopagnosia [3]:

• Developmental prosopagnosia: A person with prosopagnosia without brain damage. Many studies have suggested that as many as one in fifty people may have developmental prosopagnosia.
• Acquired prosopagnosia: After a stroke or traumatic head injury, a person may develop prosopagnosia due to brain damage. Acquired prosopagnosia is rare.

It is believed that abnormalities and impairments cause prosopagnosia or damage to a fold in the brain called the right fusiform gyrus. This area of the brain plays an important role in coordinating the neural systems involved in facial memory and perception [4].

In the past, most cases of prosopagnosia were believed to occur following a traumatic brain injury (acquired prosopagnosia). However, research has found that more individuals have prosopagnosia without having brain damage (developmental prosopagnosia) than was initially believed.

Face blindness is not caused by impaired vision, learning disabilities, or memory loss. Instead, it is a specific problem with recognising faces instead of a memory problem of being unable to remember the individual.

What Are The Symptoms Of Prosopagnosia?

Face blindness is characterised by an inability to distinguish between faces or recognise them. This may make forming relationships more challenging in a professional and personal setting. For individuals with face blindness, it may be extremely difficult to identify someone who appears in a different setting or context than the one they are used to [5].

Prosopagnosia affects more than just the occasional forgetting of names; it is a constant and recurring problem [6].

How Is Prosopagnosia Diagnosed?

If you have difficulty recognising faces, your physician will refer you to a neurologist. Your neurologist may ask you to take an assessment to evaluate your ability to recognise facial features. Your neurologist may assess your ability to [7]:

• Recognise faces you have never seen before or recognise the faces of family members
• Compare and contrast the facial features of the faces shown to you
• Recognise emotional cues from a set of faces
• Assess the age and gender of a group of faces

Physicians may use the Benton Facial Recognition Test (BFRT) and the Warrington Recognition Memory of Faces (RMF) to evaluate potential face blindness.

How Is Prosopagnosia Treated?

Prosopagnosia cannot be cured. The goal of treatment is to help those with this condition develop coping mechanisms to better identify themselves. Some people with either acquired or developmental prosopagnosia may benefit from compensatory strategies that assist in recognising people or techniques designed to restore normal face-processing mechanisms [8].

People's age at the time of the injury (in the case of acquired prosopagnosia), the type and severity of the brain injury, and the timing of treatment all play a role in the effectiveness of a rehabilitation program.

Researchers are working on identifying specific causes of this condition and seeking treatment.

How Does Prosopagnosia Affect One's Life?

In addition to avoiding social interaction, a person with prosopagnosia may develop a social anxiety disorder and a fear of social situations. The individual may also find it difficult to form relationships or face difficulties in their career. The individual may also experience feelings of depression [9].

People who suffer from prosopagnosia may have difficulty recognising objects, such as places or automobiles. Additionally, many people have difficulty navigating. An example of this would be difficulty processing angles or distances or difficulty recalling places and landmarks [10].

For someone with prosopagnosia, following the plot of a film or television programme can be very difficult since they are unable to identify the characters.

People suffering from prosopagnosia may worry that they appear rude or uninterested when they fail to recognise a person.