Introduction: Hyposchematia is a rare disorder characterized by the underestimation of the size of a part of the body. To date, isolated facial hyposchematia has not been described. The pathophysiology of this syndrome remains poorly understood.
Methods: We investigated body schema disturbances and neuroimaging features of 2400 ischemic stroke patients.
Results: We found three patients who felt that the left side of their face was disproportionately smaller than the right side. There were no directly observable objective findings in the affected patients. In drawing tasks, the left side of the face in all patients was depicted as more compressed than the right side. In all three patients, the facial hyposchematia was attributed to lesions affecting frontal-insular circuits involved in the upper part of extrapersonal space and self-related systems.
Conclusion: These cases demonstrate that distortions and underestimation of extra-personal and personal spaces can affect specific body parts, such as the face, in isolation.
Keywords: Body schema disorder, facial, frontal lesion, hyposchematia,