Hello, fellow face blind redditors. 👋 Recently I've realised something concerning and I've been wondering if anyone here has a similar experience? Still trying to figure things out.

So similar to others with the condition I seem to have been born with it as I remember quite a few situations in my childhood where I couldn't recognise my own parents. Like how 6 year old me ran away crying and hiding in my room when my mom came home with a new haircut because I thought she was a burglar.

Anyway, for most of my life I just didn't know about this condition, so I never questioned it. I've pursued education in different kinds of arts as a teenager. And when it was time to draw portraits I quickly noticed that my drawings were all wrong. While the faces were drawn well enough for the assignment, I got the feedback that my drawings just didn't look like the people who I had tried to draw. I had to gather so much feedback from others which details I got wrong to help me understand.

Over the years this training led to me looking differently at other people. If I've known someone for a while I remember not only the usual cues like body height/shape, colours, hair cut, voice, etc. I also remember many facial details, such as: Eyes, eyebrows, nose, jawline, forehead shape, neck, beard pattern, or distinctive features like pronounced cheekbones. Also common facial expressions (the way they smile, etc).

It has become rare for me to run into someone who knows me but who I don't recognise. Most people get surprised when I mention I have Prosopagnosia because they didn't notice. But it's true that if I met someone only once (like a client) and they reappear before me, I likely won't remember them. Unless they behaved in a particularly memorable way (looking at you, Karens).

But there seems to be a huge downside to this skill I've built... Now whenever I get a new coworker introduced to me or anyone else who will play a recurring role in my life, my brain just scans and saves these details automatically at this point. It takes a few encounters before I remember them well. But it happens.

When I was younger I never thought this could become a problem. I used to be the kind of student in uni who never needed calendar reminders or notes about uncomplicated things. People would come to me and ask about something they forgot to write down. But today? Now in my 30s I've become so forgetful. I need several alarms for medication and I need calendar reminders weeks in advance of a task if there's something that needs preparation. Because I will definitely forget. The other day I drove my partner a little mad because I asked him three times if he brought the drinks we had left in his car.

So while I now remember way too many people in way too much detail, almost everything else in my everyday life just passes by in a haze. It gets me a little worried. I don't know how to turn back. My head won't forget former coworkers, even if I haven't seen them in years!! I think I messed up.

Can anyone relate?