'Ishq Vishk' actor Shenaz Treasury diagnosed with prosopagnosia; 'This is a real disorder'

On Tuesday, Shenaz Treasury, who is known for playing the role of Alisha in the 2003 film Ishq Vishk, took to her social media space and revealed that she has been diagnosed with prosopagnosia. The actor stated that she is used to having issues remembering peoples' faces but remembered them by their voices. National Health Service (NHS) describes it as a condition in which people are not able to recognise family members, partners or friends by their faces.

Shenaz Treasury diagnosed with prosopagnosia

Taking to her Instagram handle, Shenaz Treasury wrote she too has been diagnosed with prosopagnosia, seemingly referring to news of Brad Pitt's diagnosis recently. "Now, I understand why I've never been able to put faces together. It's a cognitive disorder. I always felt ashamed that I can't recognise faces. I recognise voices." The next slide shared by the actor reads, "Signs and symptoms of face blindness/prosopagnosia. 1. You have failed to recognise a close friend or family member, especially when you weren't expecting to see them. Yes, that is me. Takes me a minute to register who the person is. Sometimes even a close friend I haven't seen in a while."

"You have difficulty recognising neighbours, friends, coworkers, clients, schoolmates. People you know expect you to recognise them. Failing to recognise someone might make you seem aloof. Many sufferers report losing friends and offending coworkers because they have failed to recognise them," read another statement, to which she added, "This is me."

The 40-year-old wrote, "So you confuse characters in movies or on television more so than other people? Yes, I do. I can't tell the difference if two characters have the same height and build and hairstyle." Concluding her part, she stated, "So now please understand that this is a real disorder and not me being aloof or snobbish.” She called it a "real brain issue".

Prosopagnosia & its treatment

As per NHS, Prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, means one cannot recognise people's faces. Face blindness affects people from birth and is usually a problem a person has for most or all of their life. So far, there is no specific treatment for prosopagnosia, but researchers are figuring out what causes the condition, and training programmes are being developed to help improve facial recognition.