Raymon Sabouraud wrote one hunderd years ago: "We cannot cure
baldness, nor restore hair to denuded scalps". Now we are able to restore
hair by hair trasplant, but cannot cure baldness, especially essential
baldness or common baldness. The reason is the same, our ignorance of the
etiology of the disease.
Interestingly enough, Sabouraud though about the possibles causes, and one
of them was cutting the hair too short.
In my work in Medical Hypotheses Journal (*) I set out the same reason in
common baldness, bringing out the problems of drainage of sebum. According
to this theory, common baldness is a degenerative process derived from
certain inadequate cultural practices, such as excessive hair cutting or
certain types of haircuts that prevent contact among hairs themselves and
limit outside contact in ways that would alleviate balding. Blocking the
flow of sebum towards the base of the hair follicle—and so interfering
with the arrival of the stem cells to the dermal papilla with consequent
hair miniaturization—ends up being the first negative physiological effect
derived from certain cultural habits. As time goes by, other mechanisms
become altered, which leads to a less and less reversibility of the
process.
(*) Cultural evolution as a possible triggering or causative factor
of common baldness.
Medical Hypotheses (2004) 62, 980-985
Armando Jose Yañez Soler
e-mail: arm_ya@yahoo.es
Rapid Response:
Sabouraud revised
Raymon Sabouraud wrote one hunderd years ago: "We cannot cure
baldness, nor restore hair to denuded scalps". Now we are able to restore
hair by hair trasplant, but cannot cure baldness, especially essential
baldness or common baldness. The reason is the same, our ignorance of the
etiology of the disease.
Interestingly enough, Sabouraud though about the possibles causes, and one
of them was cutting the hair too short.
In my work in Medical Hypotheses Journal (*) I set out the same reason in
common baldness, bringing out the problems of drainage of sebum. According
to this theory, common baldness is a degenerative process derived from
certain inadequate cultural practices, such as excessive hair cutting or
certain types of haircuts that prevent contact among hairs themselves and
limit outside contact in ways that would alleviate balding. Blocking the
flow of sebum towards the base of the hair follicle—and so interfering
with the arrival of the stem cells to the dermal papilla with consequent
hair miniaturization—ends up being the first negative physiological effect
derived from certain cultural habits. As time goes by, other mechanisms
become altered, which leads to a less and less reversibility of the
process.
(*) Cultural evolution as a possible triggering or causative factor
of common baldness.
Medical Hypotheses (2004) 62, 980-985
Armando Jose Yañez Soler
e-mail: arm_ya@yahoo.es
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests