Zurich, Switzerland - Having experienced facial blindness for the entirety of his life, 45-year-old Andreas Stauffiger has used his extreme tattoos to connect with people and improve his life.

Stauffiger has spent more than $30,000 on body modifications, including tattoos from head to toe (even on his eyeballs!), piercings, genital modifications, and a split tongue.

With hundreds of followers on his Instagram account @sweet_and_fire, Stauffiger has found that his tattoos make it easier for him to connect with people, despite his facial blindness.

Facial blindness, officially known as "prosopagnosia," is classified by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes as "a neurological disorder characterized by the inability to recognize faces."

As a result, Andreas Stauffiger struggles to recognize faces and also has difficulty recognizing emotions and facial body language. What he can recognize, however, are tattoos and body modifications.

"I don't recognize faces, even the faces of close friends," he told the Mirror. "I can recognize tattoos or piercings, things like that."

While Stauffiger has faced hardship due to his unusual appearance, admitting that for a while his family thought tattoos were for "criminals," his decision to get his body inked up is about more than just facial blindness.

The tattoos and body mods "give me respect, and I know how to use this to my advantage... It opens doors between those people and me, as they are fascinated."

"I’m a very open man, trying to open doors and show that inked people are the same as non-inked people. I hope to show that people should judge someone's actions, not how someone looks."

He is certainly walking the walk.