Putting a face...with a face

It's the first day of spring, which seems an appropriate day to begin a blog.

The primary goal of About Face is to examine, share, commiserate and explore the many dimensions of prosopagnosia, or face blindness. My husband, Chuck, developed the condition 19 years ago following a left temporal lobectomy designed to control the complex partial seizures that began after a blow to his head during a high school phys ed soccer game.

That unintended injury changed his life profoundly, as did the surgery. Although Chuck's seizure control improved, he was left with a devastating complication: he could no longer recognize the doctors who performed the surgery, the nurses who cared for him in the days that followed or, he would gradually discover, his co-workers, friends, parents, and even his wife and two children.

This blog will attempt to chronicle our journey with face blindness.

Because I'm a writer, friends have encouraged me for years to write about prosopagnosia and to share Chuck's story. But the direct impetus for this blog comes from a terrific piece on prosopagnosia that was featured two days ago on 60 Minutes. Here's the link: http://bit.ly/FQHtwD. If you've never heard of face blindness, watching this 30-minute segment will open your eyes to the fascinating process of facial recognition and to the profound loss experienced by those without that ability.