He was described in later life as somewhat asymmetrical

Lewis Carroll, a young adult, stood about 6 feet (1.83 m) tall and was slender. He was described in later life as somewhat asymmetrical, carrying himself stiffly and awkwardly, though this could be due to a knee injury sustained in middle age. He had a fever as a child that caused him to be deaf in one ear. He had a severe case of whooping cough when he was 17, which was most likely the cause of his chronically weak chest later in life. He developed a stammer as a child, which he referred to as his "hesitation," and it lasted the rest of his life.

The stammer has always been an important part of Carroll's image. There is no evidence to support the apocryphal story that he stammered only in adult company and was free and fluent with children. Many of his acquaintances' children remembered his stammer, while many adults did not. Lewis Carroll, on the other hand, appears to have been far more acutely aware of it than most people he met; it is said that he caricatured himself as the Dodo in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, referring to his difficulty pronouncing his last name, but this is one of many claimed facts for which no first-hand evidence exists. He did refer to himself as the dodo, but whether or not this was a reference to his stammer is unknown.

Carroll's stammer bothered him, but it was never so severe that it prevented him from using his other personal qualities to succeed in society.