'Face blind' sufferers see world like this. But now there's hope

A SCOTTISH eye expert has developed what he says is the first treatment in the world for people who suffer from face blindness.

The condition, also known as prosopagnosia, impairs the ability of people to recognise faces and facial expressions and is common in people with autism.

Now optometrist Ian Jordan has developed a system using coloured lenses to help people overcome the disability, which can have a serious impact on their lives.

He is now treating three patients a day, with people across the UK travelling to his opticians in Ayr to be assessed.

Mr Jordan will outline his work at the Treating Autism conference in London this weekend. Autism campaigners called for more research to evaluate new treatments.

Experts believe that in patients with face blindness, the way their eyes process visual information has been damaged or has not fully developed.

This means that some of the information that the brain requires to make sense of what the eyes are seeing is missing or distorted.

Mr Jordan has developed a method of using a specialised lighting system, with a range of 16 million colours, to alter the patient's ability to process what they see.

By looking at the world with certain colours filtered out and other colours enhanced, it is possible for the patients brain to receive the information it needs to tell one face from another, he said.

This means that once a colour has been found which allows the patient to see normally, opticians can then create tailor-made lenses in the right colour for that person.

The lenses can cost as little as 40 to 90 depending on the frames chosen.

Mr Jordan, who discovered the technique by accident when treating someone with another sensory processing condition, said: "This treatment is a real breakthrough and will be life-changing for those with prosopagnosia because, up until now, there hasn't been any way to treat it – just techniques and strategies to deal with the consequences.

"Some people are able to piece together a person's identity by recognising the way they walk, or the sound of their voice, but the prospect of meeting and having to identify new people, either socially, at work or at school, can be very distressing – particularly so for those on the autistic spectrum."

Isabelle Thorald, who has a sensory processing disorder, travelled to Scotland from Lincolnshire to receive the lenses.

"They've made such a difference, as I don't get into difficulties identifying people or interpreting their expressions any more," the 17-year-old said.

"Without the glasses, people look quite scary to me because their faces are distorted. I can only see one feature at a time, so if I focus on someone's eye, for example, their other eye looks like it's up where their eyebrow should be and, although I can see their mouth, it's wider on one side, and they look a bit like the Joker from Batman.

"So everyone looks quite menacing, and it's difficult to read people's expressions because all their features are twisted up.

"When I put the glasses on though, everything looks a hundred times better."

Richard Mills, director of research at the National Autistic Society (NAS), said: "While we welcome new research and ways of improving the lives of people with autism, the NAS is keen to stress that there is no known 'cure' for autism."