TheDarkPanther77

I didn't realise it either until I was about about 8 or so. When I was younger, my friends would wave at me and call me by name but because they weren't in school I didn't recognise them, wouldn't reply and would get unsettled and confused as to how they knew who I was.

I'm just glad that other people can relate...

(I told more about the story as a reply to another comment, i'll see if I can find it.)

EDIT: "I have similar stories. I didn't realise I had anything different with me, and I'd also heard a lot about 'stranger danger'. What I didn't know was I couldn't recognise my friends outside of school (around age 6 or so) and so every time another person said Hi, [my name] outside of school I would just ignore them, terrified, as I thought they were a stranger. I just assumed people trying to kidnap you was a really common experience."

Is it possible to have a more mild version of this condition? Both me and my mother really struggle with facial recognition, and primarily use the methods you mentioned. I regularly don't know who somebody is after they've had a haircut, and my mother usually needs to spend months getting to know somebody before she recognises them. If either of us see someone outside of where we expect to, or wearing different clothes etc it can be very confusing, although listening to people's voices usually helps.

When I watched Dunkirk 90% of the army guys looked the same to me.

right. My mum always said we both had it, but whenever I tried to explain it to people they would look at me as if I were lying/ an idiot. It's usually easier to just apologise for forgetting people.