Daily Dose: Prosopagnosia, Face Blindness

In Thursday's Daily Dose, a viewer has a friend who suffered brain trauma and now can't recognize friends if they have a hat on. 

They want to know if this is known as any sort of syndrome. 

Dr. Lacy Anderson said that this is a syndrome called Prosopagnosia. It's also known as face blindness. 

It causes difficulty recognizing faces, especially if they're wearing a hat or in an unexpected context. It's caused by a problem with the part of the brain that processes facial information. It can be present at birth in some people or it can develop later in life due to brain damage. 

Treatment involves coping skills to help identify people without using facial cues such as noting their clothing, height, voice, or mannerisms. 

Brad Pitt reportedly has this condition. Face blindness can cause problems because people with this condition may walk past someone they know but not acknowledge them or say hello. This behavior can be interpreted as rudeness, or they may be considered to have autism, which isn't necessarily true. Most patients with late-stage Alzheimer's disease have some degree of face blindness, making it hard to recognize family or loved ones. 

There is no known cure for this condition, but facial recognition software could eventually offer some solutions for patients.