Blindness is associated with a subjectively younger appearance

Subjective age is an important marker of successful aging connected to overall well-being, health, and longevity. However, little is known about subjective age in people with visual impairments. This study examined whether individuals with blindness (acquired and congenital) perceive their subjective age differently from sighted controls. We invited 196 participants to assess four facets of subjective age: psychological, biological, social, and cognitive. Study sample comprised subjects aged 17 to 57, 100 participants with blindness, including 49 individuals with acquired blindness (25 females, M age =40.6, SD age= 9.75), 51 individuals with congenital blindness (22 females, M age =32.4, SD age= 8.65), and 96 sighted people (50 females, M age =31.7, SD age= 10.1). Individuals with blindness perceived their appearance as subjectively younger than sighted controls, which may reflect either strategies to cope with visual impairment and/or inaccuracy in their own appearance assessment in the absence of visual cues.