If you happen to or someone you care about has trouble recognizing faces after a stroke, it could be prosopagnosia — also generally known as “face blindness.”
This text discusses the causes and treatment of prosopagnosia following stroke.
Why can’t I recognize faces after a stroke?
Prosopagnosia is a neurological disorder that primarily impairs an individual’s ability to acknowledge faces. It might probably sometimes also impair an individual’s ability to grasp facial expressions. In some rare cases, individuals with the condition report difficulty recognizing other things, corresponding to places or objects, but this is often classified as a very different kind of agnosia.
A standard explanation for prosopagnosia is stroke. A stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is disrupted. When this happens, areas of the brain which are deprived of oxygen-rich blood turn out to be damaged, resulting in secondary effects — corresponding to prosopagnosia.
The brain is organized in such a way that every area of the brain controls specific functions. After a stroke, it is useful to grasp which area of the brain is affected to roughly predict what unwanted side effects it’s possible you’ll experience. One clinical sample It was found that half of the individuals who survived a right-hemisphere stroke suffered from prosopagnosia.
Other test studied 44 stroke survivors with prosopagnosia and located that the majority of them had damage to the precise fusiform gyrus. This area of the brain, a part of the temporal and occipital lobes, is believed to play a significant role in recognizing faces. Nonetheless, not everyone with a stroke within the temporal or occipital lobes will experience prosopagnosia, because every brain is different and each stroke is different. Even amongst individuals who cannot recognize faces after a stroke, there are differences within the causes and symptoms of the condition.
Symptoms of prosopagnosia after stroke
In severe cases, a stroke survivor with prosopagnosia may not recognize familiar faces—even those of close family and friends. Others can have difficulty distinguishing between two unfamiliar faces, or perhaps a face and an object. In rare cases, the issue could also be recognizing certain facial cues.
It can be crucial to work with a neurologist to get an accurate diagnosis and understanding. Otherwise, the person is susceptible to being profoundly misunderstood. For instance, a survivor may not realize that they can’t recognize facial signals. If someone looks sad, the person with prosopagnosia may not notice and should say something insensitive.
In this instance, an individual with prosopagnosia could also be deeply misunderstood as apathetic or self-centered. That is why it’s so vital to work with a neurologist to acquire an accurate diagnosis and higher understanding.
Treatment of prosopagnosia
Treating a lot of the unwanted side effects of stroke relies on neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is the brain’s natural ability to rewire itself. It’s the idea of each learning within the intact brain and the relearning within the injured brain that happens during rehabilitation. Neuroplasticity allows healthy brain areas to take over the function of damaged areas.
Subsequently, if facial recognition is impaired on account of damage to the precise fusiform gyrus (or one other area that contributes to facial recognition), neuroplasticity is the method by which healthy areas learn to take over this function. But how?
Neuroplasticity is recent growth that’s activated by mass practice. When a skill is practiced with great intensity, the brain strengthens the neural pathways for that function.
It might be argued that practicing facial recognition may also help an individual with prosopagnosia perform this task higher. Some cognitive training apps, corresponding to the CT Speech & Cognitive Therapy app, include activities that involve matching faces. Family members may also devise other games to interact individuals in ways to practice facial recognition.
Alexander Cohen, MD, PhD and MD, PhD – who led test on 44 stroke survivors with prosopagnosia – mentioned that “novel therapies corresponding to transcranial magnetic stimulation or functional magnetic resonance imaging-based neurofeedback” might be investigated to potentially increase neuroplasticity together with mass practice.
Within the meantime, the usage of compensatory strategies
Rehabilitation is a slow process and until the brain has time to adapt, it’s price implementing compensatory strategies that may help address this disease.
For instance, some individuals are helped with facial identification by remembering the garments an individual is wearing. Others get more creative, using tone of voice, body shape, hair type, or gait to assist discover people.
Ultimately, compensation strategies offer shortcuts to assist survivors address their condition. It’s a technique to improve quality of life while working toward recovery.
Coping with Prosopagnosia After Stroke
If you happen to or a loved one has trouble recognizing faces after stroke, seek the advice of a neurologist for a proper diagnosis. Consider doing cognitive exercises to enable you to practice recognizing faces. The brain is extremely adaptive and may learn with repeated practice. You may never know what’s possible until you are trying. Within the meantime, attempt to develop compensatory strategies that enable you to discover close family and friends without having to depend on faces.
We wish you each success in your unique path!