Prosopagnosia (PA) is a Greek compound word — from prosopon (face) and agnosia (non-recognition) — and signifies face agnosia [1]. In contrast to the rare acquired form, congenital PA is quite common, with a prevalence of up to 2.5 % [2], and is almost likely hereditary.

Acquired prosopagnosia (PA) is caused by different cerebral diseases. Autopsy findings of subjects with acquired PA showed extensive cerebral damage to the occipitotemporal lobes.

Causes of acquired PA and neuro-ophthalmological signs

Frequency of pathologic findings of patients with PA

I compiled the data of 147 patients with PA from the international literature to identify the frequency of this lesion’s etiology, of one-sidedness, of the visual field defects, of the color vision disturbances, of additional topographagnosia, of object agnosia, and of alexia (Table 1).

Table 1 Our examinations (data compiled from the international literature of 147 patients with acquired PA*)
Full size table

Discussion

I have highlighted the essential clinical and diagnostic features revealed via modern imaging methods in patients with acquired prosopagnosia. Of interest to ophthalmologists are visual acuity and visual field defects in patients with PA. Left-sided homonymous visual field defects were detected in a high percentage of PA patients. PA was found predominantly in conjunction with strokes, and less frequently in patients with head trauma, encephalitis, cerebral tumors, or other brain pathologies.

CT or MRI examinations revealed lesions causing PA overlap with lesions causing achromatopsia as a common region in the occipitotemporal cortex. The localized brain damage also extended into the visual pathway such as the optic radiation and the lateral geniculate nucleus, explaining the homonymous visual field defects in patients [3].