Having below average facial recognition can be a bitch.

And, ironically, I'm dating someone who has it worse than me. (@shenanigator can't even recognize different actors in a movie if they look even vaguely familiar.) ![shutterstock_283980695_resized.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmZiJCgCNV9r18EZEn4FAB5fhspkPDAMePR5imdhvCqBXc/shutterstock_283980695_resized.jpg)

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What the heck is Prosopa....wait...how do you even pronounce that word?

Pro-zoh-pagh-no-zsha. Simply put, it's the inability to recognize faces. At its worst, you wouldn't be able to recognize your own reflection in a mirror. Most estimate that there is 2.5% of the US population running around with some degree of Prosopagnosia.

What does it do?

To me? Thankfully, I don't have it _terribly_ bad, but it still requires me to see an average-looking person* around 10 times before I would see them as "familiar." Even then, if I saw that same person outside of the context that I normally see them (i.e. seeing someone from the office at the grocery store), I probably wouldn't realize who it is. Not to mention if they were to get a haircut or something—forget it! ![87517-large-411641.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmNe5htmtVMfZGdk6RrZYpkDb1DbvsvpgcQ3fMJgbHheo4/87517-large-411641.jpg)

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> *Unless the person has an incredibly unique feature, like a handlebar mustache, piercings, or squiggly eyebrows, I just see them as another average passerby. This can lead to some awkward situations, but I'll get to that...

What Prosopagnosia is NOT

If you think I see blurry faces walking around everywhere, I don't. They're not blank either. I see 100% of the features and details everyone else does, my brain just doesn't hold them all together as a recognizable image unless I've seen them many times. (That's not the case for everyone, though. Some people won't recognize a face even if they've seen it a hundred times.) Prosopagnosia is also not: * A brain injury. That's not the case for everyone, but my brain is and has always worked basically fine. ('Cept Drunk Brittany, she's cray-cray. lol) * A choice. I can't just "try harder" to remember peoples' faces. Believe me, I've tried, though. * Curable. In fact, many therapies and medical routes have been pursued, but none have shown lasting improvements among Prosopagnosics. (source) ![MjAxMy03YjI4NmMyMDM1NzY0NDlk.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmWCypqm1KaKa4RebdFAwtXKZo9CHckpcDTMXgW8zoVHSn/MjAxMy03YjI4NmMyMDM1NzY0NDlk.png)

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Well, That's Awkward

Ah, yes. Those uncomfortable moments I mentioned earlier. There are many. In fact, I've unintentionally distanced a lot of friends because of Prosopagnosia. When I see someone out of context and look at them with an expressionless face...the type of face you make when walking by all other randos during the day...people tend to get a little butthurt. In their defense, it _does_ seem like I'm giving them the cold shoulder or ignoring them for some reason. Truth is, I'm not even sure how many times this has happened because only a handful of people came up to me later to say something like... > I stopped talking to you because I thought you were mad at me or something. You walked by me at < insert location > and didn't even acknowledge me.

Oh, right... you wanted the embarrassing stuff. That. Ahem. Well...

Those are situations when someone _does_ come up to me in the real world—outside of the context I've known them thus far, or hell, maybe I _have_ known them in this context—and they know my name, favorite type of fruit, and my 1st grade best friend's eye color, yet I have NO CLUE who the stalkerish stranger is in front of me. Yikes. ![confused dog.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmdyVrX15B1V58F3sV4jgQ2kGWiktRGF5JwdpwZ1YRdzfv/confused%20dog.jpg) In these situations, I try my darndest to find any clues before they realize. The sound of their voice? Clothing? Something they said? A question they asked? > HELP, FACE GODS, FUCKING HELP ME!!!!

Want to know the kicker?

I have photographic memory! ...With eeeeeeverything else except faces. I can recall headings on a page, where a specific image was located on that page and what it looked like, plus the surroundings when I was reading the book. Riddle me that. lol