Acquired Prosopagnosia
If your face blindness is the result of is the result of an illness or injury such as a stroke, head injury or encephalitis, the sudden and significant change in your ability to recognise others may be obvious to you.
You may be able to discuss the condition with your neurologist.
There are specific support groups which can offer information, insight and support for those who have developed face blindness in this way.
Developmental Prosopagnosia
For individuals who have developmental prosopagnosia access to diagnosis is not usually via the medical route, as GPs tend to have limited experience of the condition, though you may ask for the condition to be included in your medical records.
Volunteering to participate in one of the university research projects may be the most straightforward way of getting an assessment of your face recognition abilities if you think you have particular difficulties.
GP Medical records
You may want to ask your GP to add prosopagnosia to your records, as a long-term condition. As well providing your GP with this information about yourself, it may also be useful if you are seeking additional support in the future which might require evidence from your doctor. Face blindness as a term is not on the GP list of long term conditions, but Prosopagnosia is, with a ‘Read Code’ of F481M.
It was only in 2014 that the NHS added ‘prosopagnosia’ to NHS Choices and in 2015 it was added to the list of long-term conditions that can be coded on to patient’s notes, so awareness amongst health professionals is still in its infancy.
