Can you tell by a persons face if they are an alcoholic?

No way you can use the face as a gauge for alcoholism.

Only if theyre long gone down that road…..

Are people with ruddy complexions more apt to be an alcoholic than people with other facial colors?

Not all alcoholics, certainly, but some, yes. I can also tell if they smoke.

A person’s appearance always indicates behavior. Just like how all black people will steal from you.~

The only way I know of is if their nose is large, veiny, and red. Like W.C. Fields. As @uberbatman said, they’d have to have been alcoholics for a long time before that shows up, though.

I always thought blue or purplish bags under the eyes was an indicator of alcoholism. Their face tends to swell more than usual.

Well, if they are drinking heavily for a long enough time, they develop broken capillaries on the nose. These are called “Gin Blossoms”. So at some point, you can tell that a person is a heavy drinker. Whether or not that translates into “alcoholic” is a different matter.

I can tell by their beer belly gut instead of their face!

Although that can argued, but I still look at beer bellies haha

You can sometimes tell if they drink a lot, but not if they are inclined to be alcoholics if that is what you mean? In very young people you dont necessarily see the tell tale signs that @Trillian and others have described. But, young people many times have a look about them and if you put it together with other clues like they ALWAYS have to have a drink with them or in their hand (I do not mean it is always alcohol, but these people always have a pepsi or something with them, it is a security blanket to not be emptyhanded in my opinion) and people who drink tend to hold themselves a certain way, then you can guess pretty well. It is not full proof, because kids pick up mannerisms from their friends.

@Glow My dad has a beer belly but he doesn’t drink beer, he is just overweight.

@Glow I was going to point out the same thing that @JLeslie said. The belly is not a definitive indication of drinking beer. That can be caused by lots of different things.

Hell, I have more belly than I want LOL. Genetics, we are apples in my family.

I think most of the symptoms of alcoholism can be easily confused with other symptoms. My mother is an alcoholic and she has developed belly, she’s always zapped of energy (very dark circles under her eyes), and she has aged at an accelerated pace since she started drinking. All very obvious when you know what you’re looking for, but also not necessarily due to her drinking problem. My friend’s dad hasn’t had a drop of alcohol in his life but looks like a lifelong alcoholic.

Sometimes, I suppose, if they’ve been abusing alcohol for many years there are signs: swollen and “gin blossom” nose (as @Trillian) pointed out. But many people can be closet alcoholics or not drinking themselves into a stupor every night, and hide the fact for years.

@john65pennington I live in an agricultural area where many farmers have naturally ruddy complexions, so I don’t think a ruddy complexion identifies an alcoholic.

@YoH do they drink beer every night? Just kidding. But, seriously, are you making a distinction between alcoholism and people who drink every day, there really isn’t a difference when it comes to the affects on the body physically in my opinion. Although, each person handles it differently, different genertics play a part. Still, sounds like the ruddy in your case is from being out in the sun and elements.

It isn’t perfect, but these are clues. It is really many things together that are going to put together a picture of whether or not a person “appears” to be an alcoholic.

@JLeslie I was responding to @john65pennington‘s question ,“Are people with ruddy complexions more apt to be an alcoholic than people with other facial colors?”
Indeed the elements are responsible for many farmers having ruddy complexions.I’m also aware of a few drinkers who sport ruddy complexions.

I don’t believe the person’s face would be an indicator of their alcoholism, though their mannerisms could indicate such a thing.

If you never see said face without a beer bottle stuck in it, that would be a pretty good indicator. But it probably is difficult to judge just by a face.

You may be able to tell when someone has been drinking-alcoholics are good at concealing it, unlike the occasional drinker. You can also recognize the telltale ravages that prolongued use of alcohol physically causes, but other than these technical hints, I’m not sure you can really tell an alcoholic from the looks in their eyes so to speak.
I mean you can, but unless you know the person, how to discern certain evident traits from other causes which issue similar sets of traits?
(Depression, anxiety and what have you.)

I’ve got this serious drinking problem, but so far, unless I tell people they’ll never know-yet anyways.

No, I see lots of them all the time, and they look just like everyone else. If you saw me, I do not believe you would know, unless I told you.
@free_fallin ; what ‘mannerisms’ exactly?

As a child several of my friends’ fathers were alcoholic. The things they had in common that I noticed were skin tone, trembling, discolored whites of the eye, irritation at wife for no reason, violent outbursts, and inappropriate statements to and in front of children.

@BluRhino Basically what @thriftymaid said.

Ah, you are referring to practicing alcoholics, the ones I know are not anymore.

@HTDC I’ve got terrible blue bags under my eyes. Its genetic! I have no idea why I’ve got it. But even my great-great grandmother had them. Its so odd! Then again… a lot of us were alcoholics.. ha!

Usually a HUGE red nose I would say was an indicator.