diff --git a/starlette/staticfiles.py b/starlette/staticfiles.py
index 02848241e..637da6480 100644
--- a/starlette/staticfiles.py
+++ b/starlette/staticfiles.py
@@ -153,6 +153,7 @@ def lookup_path(self, path: str) -> tuple[str, os.stat_result | None]:
             joined_path = os.path.join(directory, path)
             if self.follow_symlink:
                 full_path = os.path.abspath(joined_path)
+                directory = os.path.abspath(directory)
             else:
                 full_path = os.path.realpath(joined_path)
                 directory = os.path.realpath(directory)
diff --git a/tests/test_staticfiles.py b/tests/test_staticfiles.py
index 2c5e7e2df..e11e3cb30 100644
--- a/tests/test_staticfiles.py
+++ b/tests/test_staticfiles.py
@@ -593,3 +593,11 @@ def test_staticfiles_self_symlinks(tmp_path: Path, test_client_factory: TestClie
     assert response.url == "http://testserver/index.html"
     assert response.status_code == 200
     assert response.text == "<h1>Hello</h1>"
+
+
+def test_staticfiles_relative_directory_symlinks(test_client_factory: TestClientFactory) -> None:
+    app = StaticFiles(directory="tests/statics", follow_symlink=True)
+    client = test_client_factory(app)
+    response = client.get("/example.txt")
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    assert response.text == "123\n"