J Clin Neurol.  2012 Dec;8(4):311-313. 10.3988/jcn.2012.8.4.311.

A Case of Prosopometamorphopsia Restricted to the Nose and Mouth with Right Medial Temporooccipital Lobe Infarction that Included the Fusiform Face Area

• Hwang JY
• Ha SW
• Cho EK
• Han JH
• Lee SH
• Lee SY
• Kim DE

• KMID: 2287585
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3988/jcn.2012.8.4.311

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Metamorphopsia includes a broad spectrum of visual perceptual distortions, such as alteration of perceived object size or, rarely, altered perception of faces, termed prosopometamorphopsia.
CASE REPORT
This report describes a patient who complained of metamorphopsia restricted to the center of the face, particularly the lower part of the face (nose and mouth), following infarction of the right medial temporooccipital lobe that included the fusiform face area.
CONCLUSIONS
The fusiform face area is commonly believed to be a face-selective cortical region dedicated to the visual analysis of face stimuli. We speculate that any injury to this brain area could bring about prosopometamorphopsia involving whole or unilateral face perception, or very rarely, as in our case, distortion restricted to the central area of the face. Furthermore, there could be topographical correspondences between facial structures and the fusiform face area.

Keyword

prosopometamorphopsia; fusiform face area; face perception

MeSH Terms

Brain
Humans
Infarction
Mouth
Nose
Perceptual Distortion
Vision Disorders

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Drawing of a face by the patient. A: Initially, she described the nose as looking very narrow as well as lengthened toward the mouth, which looked small and round of shape. B: She depicted a face normally to a certain degree at the time of discharge.

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  Fig. 2 A: Diffusion weighted MRI, and B: T2weighted brain MRI of the present patient, demonstrating a lesion in the fusiform face area. C: Fusiform face area. Viewed from bottom, the fusiform face area is depicted with blue.

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