3 ms·
I've perused some literature and the noise from online forums resulting in a plausible theory of the mechanism of male pattern baldness that I've seen proposed:
by _gmax0 4y ago
I've perused some literature and the noise from online forums resulting in a plausible theory of the mechanism of male pattern baldness that I've seen proposed:
1 - Higher testosterone, generally correlated with higher amounts of DHT as testosterone is metabolized into DHT. This obviously depends on some intermediary metabolic process and all of the dependencies involved there.
2 - Certain hair follicles are DHT resistant. Why does MPB follow a M-shaped pattern and devolve into common patterns across those afflicted?
3 - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26622151/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26622151/ Mechanical stress points on the scalp seems to map injectively to the areas that see hair recede.
Takeaway: mechanical stress induces chronic inflammation on the scalp, localized in areas that correspond to MPB hairloss areas. Chronic inflammation begets androgen binding and those with high amounts of systemic DHT/vulnerable follicles develop MPB.
- echelon 4y ago> mechanical stress induces chronic inflammation on the scalp This seems measurable (inflammation markers in titers), testable (A/B test with NSAIDs), and amenable to preexisting population studies without tracking patients over time (eg. find patients with long hair, that wear hats, etc.)
- amelius 4y agoMakes me wonder why obese men don't get inflammation in their belly hair follicles from the stretched skin.
- klipt 4y agoI thought if skin stretches slowly it just grows to cover the larger surface? I.e. stretch marks are only when skin is stretched too rapidly.
- ThrowawayTestr 4y agoWe do.
- ShredKazoo 4y agoInteresting, thanks for sharing! Is there visible redness? Does it have the same character as male pattern baldness?
- ThrowawayTestr 4y agoIt's mostly ingrown hairs.
- ShredKazoo 4y agoIf the scalp is chronically inflamed wouldn't it appear red? What if the stress points simply cause lack of blood flow, leading to sebum buildup?
- nayuki 4y agoI first heard about theory #3 on mechanical stress from "What I've Learned": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yehk_h_Uj6k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yehk_h_Uj6k
- mancerayder 4y agoWhy would the middle top back of the head be so subject to mechanical stress, if this theory is correct. I can see that for hat wearers, but that 'bald spot' is so common across the board even for non-wearers it seems not caused by mechanic stress as the first cause in the chain above.