Why do people on the spectrum look young for their age?

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I look older than I really am. Hypothyroidism is causing hair loss. I also wonder if the years of facial tics aren't responsible for my premature face wrinkles.

Two reasons I can think of: (1) we get out less, are less exposed to the sun, and therefore experience less photoaging.

This guy was a truck driver who spent most of his life driving with the sunshine on one side of his face:



(2) We're more naive/innocent and that shows too.

Well. I'm 33 and I look anywhere from 15-to mid 20's. I had Growth hormone deficiency as a child. So it plays a role why I look so much younger. If you have heard of Andy Milonakis he also has Growth hormone deficiency he is 37.

I'm 30, and somehow this always comes as a shock to people--I seem to pass as someone in their early-mid 20s, so about 4-7 years younger than I actually am. When I was 21, I spent the night at my younger brother's college dorm; his floormates thought I was in high school. The only real sign of aging on my face are some very slight creases sometimes visible right around my eyes from squinting so much. Looks aside, I think part of it is that I come across as more youthful in the way I act and the way I dress.

Yes I have been told I look young for my age & it's partly due to good genes. Recently when I wore my hair back & wore glasses I was carded at the store & that made my day.

Somebody else posted this article :-CLICK HERE FOR LINK on a thread yesterday.

One of the things the article by the British Journal of Psychiatry mentioned was that DHEAS does not decrease with age in Autistics resulting in the "clinically observed young look in middle age persons with ASD", Not sure how this would explain younger Autistics adults still looking like Children.

The last time I got "chatted up" by a girl who was maybe 24, she refused to belive I was 49 when another pre-knowledge-of-my-age admirer walked across, hand on hips, and told her.

Well, people say I look about 10-15 years older than I am. Think this is the beard though.

That article is... bringing down my theory of having an ASD.
I had (or have) precocious (or maybe earlier) puberty, and I have many male characteristics (body hair, a lot of facial hair, very deep voice, large body, high heigh).at 16 I look like 20-25.
Also, my index finger is a little shorter than my ring finger.

People have many times mistaken my daughters and me for sisters (they're 23 now). They (my daughters) think it's funny. I don't.

I had no idea this was an aspie characteristic until I started coming here. And I don't think it's just a facial characteristic, either. I'm 48 and I have the body of a woman 5-10 years younger. It's true I developed a little later than most girls, but not by that much. So it's not just a matter of maturing later and staying 5-10 years behind.

As for theories why this is so ... I don't know. Maybe we're the opposite of that condition where people look many years older than they are. You've probably seen photos ... people in their teens, for instance, but look like they're in their 40's or 50's.

Let's hope the age thing is true. I don't feel it is, for me. I developed way earlier than other people and look a bit older than my current age - late 20s - I look like early to mid 30s.

I was asking myself the same question. Why do we auties look younger....

A true mystery, I believe.

Last year I looked like I was 15 years old, as everyone has told me since I was that exact age. And last year I was 19.

With my mom we agreed that now with 20 I look like a 16-year-old, but I'm not too sure. My face is less chubby, but I was doing facial excersises to work that out. So I think that's the reason.

I'm not over-weight, but I had a chubbier face...

Maybe I look the same but my mom doesn't want to disappoint me... I talk about the same thing at least half a year...

"Why do you young people insist on lying about your age?". This is what someone who is my own age said when I told her that I was the same age as she is...

People have commented that I look younger. I am short and right now not fat but not skinny either, just kind of average, but when I was very thin people always thought I was a lot younger. I have quite a round baby face, and I think I may dress more like a teenager than a woman in her twenties. I'm most comfortable in jeans and t shirts and kinda tomboy clothing.

Because we are emotionally quite a lot younger than our actual age. As it often is looks don't lie.

cause we don't give a s**t about anything,


unless they suffer from anxiety disorder this would age us would it not ?

do I look 37

I look older because I'm really tall for an Asian female.
Also I'm androgynous, so people generally mistake me as an average teen guy