A loved one’s face is comforting and completely recognizable. Their eyes, the way their mouth twitches when they’re trying to hide a smile, it’s all familiar to a person. Not being able to recognize people’s faces, even those you know best, is a scary idea for everyone. This isn’t just a myth, it’s a common reality for about 1 in 50 people, according to Faceblind. It’s called prosopagnosia, but familiarly referred to as “face blindness”.

Prosopagnosia is a neurological disorder, and the name comes from Greek roots which essentially mean “not knowing face”. Prosopagnosics can’t differentiate people’s faces, including their own in the mirror. They generally have to rely on other cues, such as hair, voice, and physical features, like a tattoo. 

Cleveland Clinic says that there are two different types of prosopagnosia: apperceptive and associative. Apperceptive prosopagnosia is when a person’s features are generic and unrecognizable. All faces look similar enough, making it hard to differentiate people. Associative prosopagnosia affects memories, more so than vision. A person’s facial features are clear and distinct, but they aren’t linked to any memories, making it hard to know if someone is familiar or not. 

The way prosopagnosia works is by affecting the neurons. In the brain, there is a specific network, familiarly called the “face network” which refers to the lobe that specializes in recognizing faces. There are two ways to become a prosopagnosic, either by acquiring it through brain trauma or by being born with it. Acquired prosopagnosics have damage to their face network, says Faceblind. Developed prosopagnosics’ face networks are atypical from the start, leading to their face blindness. 

There isn’t a cure for prosopagnosia directly, although there are some things that can help treat the causes of the disorder. If it comes from a brain tumor, surgery may help remove the problem. There are different ways to adapt to living with this, such as perceptual training, which can help individuals  try and remember visual cues. Although this makes day-to-day life more complicated, there are always ways to adapt.