Facial blindness affects more than 3% of population, Harvard study finds
BOSTON – A condition called "facial blindness" may be more common than you think.
People with facial blindness or prosopagnosia believe they recognize people they have never met or fail to recognize those they have.
It can be caused by a brain injury or by genetic or developmental problems.
As you can imagine, facial blindness can put people in embarrassing situations and impact them both socially and professionally.
It was thought to affect around 2% of the population. But after studying more than 3,300 individuals, researchers at Harvard Medical School discovered that facial blindness affects more than 3% of the population, or more than 10 million Americans.
And they found that those affected fall along a continuum, with facial blindness ranging from mild to more severe.