Usually you talk to them and then you remember who they are or where you know them from.

It's not like you can't tell your wife apart from your orthodontist.

NobodyNada 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I recently learned that I have some level of face-blindness (I took the CFMT online and scored 43).

It's something I've had my whole life but only recently realized wasn't "normal". It's not like I can't recognize people at all, but rather that faces aren't very distinctive to me compared to other identifying characteristics (such as hair color/style/length, clothing, skin tone, height, voice, gait, mannerisms, etc.) It takes me a while to learn to distinguish everyone in a group of people (especially people who are similar along all of those attributes), but once I know someone well I will usually recognize them without problems.

The only real issues are when someone changes their appearance (e.g. getting glasses or shaving a beard), or when I run into someone in an unexpected context (like randomly meeting someone I know on the street). A few months ago I ran into my cousin at an event in another city, and didn't recognize her until after 20 or 30 seconds of conversation.

It's also not usually too hard to mask. I realized I have a subconscious habit of never greeting people by name because I'm always afraid of getting it wrong, and it's easy enough to bluff through "oh hi, how are you, good to see you, what have you been up to" pleasantries until I figure out who I'm talking to. The most awkward situations are when I'm unsure whether or not I know someone and have to risk either mistaking a stranger for a friend, or accidentally ignoring/reintroducing myself to an acquaintance. Also, starting a new TV show sucks.

Now that I know it's an actual condition with a name, I'm not sure yet whether it makes things better or worse if I try to explain it to people to excuse my mistakes.

If any other face blind people have useful tips or experiences, I'm all ears :)

	▲	majiy 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Best tip I can give: Be open with it. If someone talks to you and you're not sure who they are, tell them you're faceblind and ask. It takes some getting used to, but it's worth it. In my previous company we gave a short introduction when joining, and I included faceblindness. "If I meet you randomly on the street and don't say hello, that's not with malicious intent." Most people are understanding, though a few are not, but really then it's their problem.

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freedomben 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> It's not like you can't tell your wife apart from your orthodontist.

I got a personal kick out of that example, because one of my good friend's wife is his orthodontist :-D

	▲	PlunderBunny 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		"open wide..."