COTW: 3 Lbs. Presents Prosopagnosia
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Just when you think the number of doctors on television can't get any more crowded, along comes yet another show about super docs. 3 Lbs. is a new series showcasing neurosurgeons (interesting to see medical dramas now narrowing to a specific field); the title refers to the weight of the human brain. Is that weight accurate? Wikipedia says yes.
The show premiered a few weeks ago, and we must admit we haven't been watching. So many medical dramas, so little time. We tuned in for the first time last night, and the prognosis looks good.
Last night's episode of 3 Lbs. featured a patient who doesn't recognize people's faces. Interesting premise. But is it for real?
Yes. The condition is called prosopagnosia, and it's our Condition of the Week. Prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, is a rare result of stroke or brain injury. The term is derived from Greek: prosopo means "face" and agnosia means "without knowledge." Harvard University is conducting research on prosopagnosia. According to their website, people who suffer from prosopagnosia "have difficulty recognizing people that they have encountered many times. In extreme cases, prosopagnosics have trouble recognizing even those people that they spend the most time with such as their spouses and their children." Most of the cases that have been documented are the result of brain damage following head trauma, stroke, and degenerative diseases. However, there are also cases of developmental prosopagnosia that are genetic so it could be inherited from a parent who is face-blind.
So what do people with face blindness see? Several websites run by face-blind people offer some clue what it's like living with the condition. Cecilia Burman compares the condition to picking out individual stones and provides several images of how she might recognize faces. Based on these picture, when she tries to remember someone, their facial features like the nose and mouth appear blurred or absent. Bill Choisser informs us that face-blind folks learn to recognize others by identifying alternative traits such as hair, clothing, body shape, mannerisms, emotion, and voices. It's because of this that face blindness often goes undetected.
How common is face blindness? A recent article in TIME magazine about prosopagnosia says it is "surprisingly common." It afflicts about 1 in 50 people. That's more than 5 million in the U.S. However, the degree varies widely.
What can be done for face-blind people? Validate their parking. That's what Dr. Hanson recommended on last night's episode of 3 Lbs. Though his attitude seemed gruff, he's absolutely right. Unfortunately, there's no treatment for prosopagnosia.
The docs on 3 Lbs. know their stuff.
Related Topics: New Approach to Stroke Recovery
Technorati Tags: 3 Lbs, brain surgery, face-blind, prosopagnosia
The show premiered a few weeks ago, and we must admit we haven't been watching. So many medical dramas, so little time. We tuned in for the first time last night, and the prognosis looks good.
Last night's episode of 3 Lbs. featured a patient who doesn't recognize people's faces. Interesting premise. But is it for real?
Yes. The condition is called prosopagnosia, and it's our Condition of the Week. Prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, is a rare result of stroke or brain injury. The term is derived from Greek: prosopo means "face" and agnosia means "without knowledge." Harvard University is conducting research on prosopagnosia. According to their website, people who suffer from prosopagnosia "have difficulty recognizing people that they have encountered many times. In extreme cases, prosopagnosics have trouble recognizing even those people that they spend the most time with such as their spouses and their children." Most of the cases that have been documented are the result of brain damage following head trauma, stroke, and degenerative diseases. However, there are also cases of developmental prosopagnosia that are genetic so it could be inherited from a parent who is face-blind.
So what do people with face blindness see? Several websites run by face-blind people offer some clue what it's like living with the condition. Cecilia Burman compares the condition to picking out individual stones and provides several images of how she might recognize faces. Based on these picture, when she tries to remember someone, their facial features like the nose and mouth appear blurred or absent. Bill Choisser informs us that face-blind folks learn to recognize others by identifying alternative traits such as hair, clothing, body shape, mannerisms, emotion, and voices. It's because of this that face blindness often goes undetected.
How common is face blindness? A recent article in TIME magazine about prosopagnosia says it is "surprisingly common." It afflicts about 1 in 50 people. That's more than 5 million in the U.S. However, the degree varies widely.
What can be done for face-blind people? Validate their parking. That's what Dr. Hanson recommended on last night's episode of 3 Lbs. Though his attitude seemed gruff, he's absolutely right. Unfortunately, there's no treatment for prosopagnosia.
The docs on 3 Lbs. know their stuff.
Related Topics: New Approach to Stroke Recovery
Technorati Tags: 3 Lbs, brain surgery, face-blind, prosopagnosia
2 Comments:
I have been watching this show on the web, and I like it. It delves into specifics of the medical conditions showcased and it also does that cool thing where it shows and names all the areas of the brain where the affliction is occuring. Also, the head brain surgeon himself suffers from an as yet undiagnosed and undisclosed problem with his own brain. He has a lot of auditory and visual hallucinations that he doesn't tell anyone about. Interesting...
Great a neurosurgeon w/ who either has a psychotic/delusional quality, drug dependance, a combination of the two ,or schizophrenia. Hope he never has to delve into your cranium...
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