The Wierdest Disease: Prosopagnosia (Face Blindness)

[Attack027]

I heard about this disease called prosopagnosia or face blindness. About 2% of the worlds population has 2%, which may not seem like much but thats millions of people. Most of what is known about this disease was found out in the past few years
Link for mor info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosopagnosia

People with prosopagnosia are unable to relate faces with people or even themselves. So someone affected by this wont even reconignize thier own parents from the time they are born. They can reconginize someones voice, clothes, and even hair, but they just see a face as basically nothing. They can see noses and eyes, but don't see the face as someone's. They don't even recongize there own Face. As a result people think that people with face blindness are arrogant and aloof, because they wont acknowlegde the person unless they say something because they see everyone as a stranger until they identify you with something other than your face.

I was just wondering if anyone else finds this interesting or knows anybody with this. I think this is just bizarre, and was wondering what other people thought of this. Also post other wierd diseases if you know of any.

[heyitsscott]

I think its weird, i mean could you imagine if you couldnt remember what your parents faces looked like. It would be horrible

[laxrat22]

this kinda reminds me of the ring when everyones face gets all blurry in the pictures.



something completely unrelated except for the fact that its a weird disease, did you know there is a disease where you're born with your heart outside your body, thats just creepy

[Attack027]

I think its weird, i mean could you imagine if you couldnt remember what your parents faces looked like. It would be horrible
The guy that brought this to attention has a very bad relationship with his parents he would walk into his house and see strangers in his house. Think of the social problems these people have.

And the guy noticed he had a problem when he was 48 he was shaving in the mirror and some of his hair fell into his face. Since nobody was in his house he came to the conclusion that is his face, but he still doesnt recongize his face.

Also he was a lawyer and had to quit because he wouldn't know his own clients unless they where sitting down where they should be so he did this for a few years then got fed up with people thinking he was an idiot and became an accountant where he doesnt have to mess with people

[Pitibear]

Sounds like this is some select form of autism...in that it narrows a point of perception of a person's world...sounds like a perception/processing section of the brain does not wotk within normative parameters...

yes, it is unusual, therefore classification as "weird," works.

Are we allowed to profer others in this thread?

I have a genetic disorder called "geographic tongue." since adolescence, my tongue developed three splits down the center line, which create canyon-like "ditches" in my tongue.

Doesn't hurt, but it presents the social problem of having at some point to warn any girl you were about to kiss that this could be perceived as a problem... :yumyum:

...hope that was okay to share...

[Attack027]

Pitibear, face blindess may be form of autism, i'm not sure but i do know that people are either born with it or a stroke or for example the first recorded case was in WWII after a man was hit with shrapnel and started referring to his wife as a hat because he didnt reconginze faces.

Also it is great to share other unusal diseases. Thats kind of why started this thread.

[itsthatkid]

I have geographical tongue too, no girls ever complained. It gets kind of annoying though.

[twin58]

... the first recorded case was in WWII after a man was hit with shrapnel and started referring to his wife as a hat because he didnt reconginze faces.

Oh, I've got that book.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Mistook_His_Wife_for_a_Hat)

[THALAX]

Thats not as bad as having Alzheimers. And a lot more people have that.

This really isn't a bad disease, but is still really weird. I heard it on the news.

Some lady from NC with a regular country accent one day woke up, and she had an asian accent. Now that could be really cool, as long as you don't get a bad accent like French or something. :chuckle: I have no idea what it's called though.

[mass_elite21]

1. definately weirdest thread ever lol
2. i love how twin58 owns a book on that guy

[gigo567]

Thats not as bad as having Alzheimers. And a lot more people have that.

This really isn't a bad disease, but is still really weird. I heard it on the news.

Some lady from NC with a regular country accent one day woke up, and she had an asian accent. Now that could be really cool, as long as you don't get a bad accent like French or something. :chuckle: I have no idea what it's called though.
I thought it was a British accent because I heard her on the radio.

[THALAX]

I thought it was a British accent because I heard her on the radio.
eh, I forgot. It probably was.

[goalieskcickay]

Some lady from NC with a regular country accent one day woke up, and she had an asian accent. Now that could be really cool, as long as you don't get a bad accent like French or something. :chuckle: I have no idea what it's called though.

It isn't uncommon for stroke victims to have a changed accent.

[livin4lax09]

Pitibear, face blindess may be form of autism,

i was thinking this exact thing when I read it. It kind of makes sense if the two were related, but just a sub-category.

[twin58]

i love how twin58 owns a book on that guy

It was a bestseller a few years back. It turns out that "a few years back" amounts to 1985.

If you like that subject, see if you can find Eleven Blue Men, and Other Narratives of Medical Detection (http://www.google.com/search?q=Eleven+Blue+Men) by Berton Roueché (http://www.google.com/search?q=Berton+Rouech). It doesn't seem possible, but there's no Wikipedia entry either for him or for his book. The book is a collection of articles that ran in The New Yorker over the years.

Here's the start of Eleven Blue Men (http://lilt.ilstu.edu/pefranc/ROUECHE.00.html):

At about Eight o'clock on Monday morning, September 25, 1944, a ragged, aimless old man of eighty-two collapsed on the sidewalk on Dey Street, near the Hudson Terminal. Innumerable people must have noticed him, but he lay there alone for several minutes, dazed, doubled up with abdominal cramps, and in an agony of retching. Then a policeman came along. Until the policeman bent over the old man, he may have supposed that he had just a sick drunk on his hands; wanderers dropped by drink are common in that part of town in the early morning. It was not an opinion that he could have held for long. The old man's nose, lips, ears, and fingers were sky-blue.

[hornetlax]

alright my moms a nurse, and she saw a kid get born with no skin. Its muscles were on the outside. And this one disorder where the babys eyes wouldnt stay in its head. :wow:

[Attack027]

alright my moms a nurse, and she saw a kid get born with no skin. Its muscles were on the outside. And this one disorder where the babys eyes wouldnt stay in its head. :wow:
That is horrible. Can you even live with out Skin?

[chslax24]

haha did you see this on Entertainment tonight?

anyways, yeah that would suck.

The lady on ET had her husband tell her what color shirt he was wearing so she would know where he was when they went out to eat. She was finally able to recognize a picture with the president in it because of the flags in the background

[gigo567]

You guys are lucky, I had this in 3rd grade and it can come back at any time:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermatomyositis
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000839.htm

[shoebag2000]

It was a bestseller a few years back. It turns out that "a few years back" amounts to 1985.

If you like that subject, see if you can find Eleven Blue Men, and Other Narratives of Medical Detection (http://www.google.com/search?q=Eleven+Blue+Men) by Berton Roueché (http://www.google.com/search?q=Berton+Rouech). It doesn't seem possible, but there's no Wikipedia entry either for him or for his book. The book is a collection of articles that ran in The New Yorker over the years.

Here's the start of Eleven Blue Men (http://lilt.ilstu.edu/pefranc/ROUECHE.00.html):

Can you elaborate as to why they were blue?


And hornet, that is one of the saddest things I have ever heard. I hate birth defects. My mom knew a guy whose kid was born severely deformed, retarded, and without an anus, among other things. He was the most deformed kid in Canadian history. This guy worked in the Uranium mine where my mom worked, although he was actually mining it I think, whereas she just worked in the lab. Apparently a lot of people she knew had kids with birth defects from that. I guess thats what you get from living in the Uranium capital of the world.

[Magoo]

the local news station is doing a report on face in 5 minutes. coincedence

[twin58]

Can you elaborate as to why they were blue?

Yeah, but it would ruin the story.

[wolfie8914]

yea we watched a video about that in AP Bio last year