In the News – New Theory: Gravity Causes Baldness?
Snippet from the article:
Male pattern baldness, also known as androgenetic alopecia (AGA), accounts for more than 95 percent of hair loss in men, and affects an estimated 35 million of them in the U.S., according to the National Institutes of Health. But what exactly causes this kind of balding? According to a new report, the answer lies in something we’re all susceptible to: gravity.Dr. Emin Tuncay Ustuner, a plastic surgeon in Ankara, Turkey, came up with the theory that calls out gravity’s “force of downward pull … on the scalp†as the main culprit in male pattern baldness. But there’s a little more to it, and it involves a potent form of the male sex hormone testosterone, known as dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which has been known to thin hair follicles in the scalp
Read the rest — Gravitation Theory Explains Baldness: ‘Vicious Cycle’ Of Testosterone Surplus And Gravitational Pressure Leads To A Shiny Head
One of my patients told me that he flew to a clinic in South America and spent a lot of money for hair loss treatments that included hanging upside down. It didn’t work.
I can’t help but feel that this could have some validity to it. I’m not saying I believe baldness is caused by gravity, but gravity may play some sort of role in enabling the balding process to occur. It would certainly explain why hair tends to thin in such a peculiar pattern. As far as using the ineffectiveness of hanging upside down to discount the theory, I do not think it carries much weight, as we have never and probably will never see a study where large numbers of people spend as much of their lives upside down as others spend upright.
There’s quite a few bald astronauts – maybe they could assess some of those due to go to the ISS for long crew periods. If it’s true and zero g impacts their hair loss then I will gladly eat my NASA emblazoned hat ;)
Also we spend a good proportion of our lives lying down in bed than stood up – so gravity should probably be pulling down on the sides of our hair. Maybe if you sleep on one side only for 50 years we can see millions of men with bald half crowns and luxuriant locks on the half less subject to direct gravitational pressure?