Doctor believes gravity is major cause of baldness

he "force of downward pull caused by the gravity on the scalp skin" is the key contributor to the events leading to progressive hair loss in male pattern baldness, writes Dr. Emin Tuncay Ustuner, a plastic surgeon in Ankara, Turkey. He adds, "The new theory's unparalleled ability to explain even the details of the hair loss process and the formation of the pattern in AGA is apparent."
"Gravity Theory" Helps Explain DHT's Role in Androgenic Alopecia Dr. Ustuner's theory seeks to reconcile some puzzling observations related to the development and progression of AGA. Balding areas of the scalp show increases in a potent form of testosterone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT), while drugs that block conversion of testosterone to DHT can slow hair loss.
In the scalp, DHT seems to cause hair follicles to become thinner. But in other areas of the body, such as the underarms and genital area, DHT and other male sex hormones promote thickening of hair follicles. Why should DHT affect scalp hair one way but hair in other areas in a different way? And why does balding -- and the associated increase in DHT levels -- occur only on the top of the head?
The answer, Dr. Ustuner believes, is the weight of the scalp on the hair follicles. In youth, the scalp has sufficient fat tissue under the skin, and it is "capable of keeping itself well-hydrated," buffering the pressure on hair follicles. But with aging, the skin and underlying (subcutaneous) fat become thinner, and the pressure on the hair follicles increases. Testosterone contributes to thinning of the subcutaneous fat. In women, estrogen prevents thinning of these cushioning tissues, at least until menopause.
Aging and Testosterone-Related Changes Create 'Vicious Circle' Leading to Hair Loss As the cushion decreases, the hair follicle must strive against higher pressure, requiring more testosterone to achieve normal growth. This "local demand" leads to a buildup of DHT levels in the scalp, but not in the bloodstream. Rising DHT levels cause further erosion of the subcutaneous fat -- creating a "vicious circle," according to Dr. Ustuner.
The hair growth cycle accelerates in response to DHT, but it's not enough to overcome the increased pressure. Over time, the hair follicle becomes smaller and smaller, resulting in progressively increasing hair loss.
If the pressure created by the weight of the scalp is the cause of balding, then hair loss should occur at the top of the head -- "This is exactly what happens in AGA," Dr. Ustuner points out. He believes that individual hair loss patterns are affected by differences in the shape of the head, reflecting variations in scalp pressure. The weight of the facial soft tissues adds to the pressure at the front of the scalp, contributing to hair loss there. In contrast, the ears help resist the effects of gravity on the scalp, lessening hair loss on the sides of the head.
"There is not another theory that reasonably and satisfactorily explains hair loss in AGA without ascribing a function to DHT that is opposite to its known function," Dr. Ustuner writes. He notes that, while several factors suggest that genetic factors contribute to male pattern baldness, the increase in scalp DHT levels "is not an occurrence directly determined by genes."
Dr. Ustuner acknowledges that his "gravity theory" of AGA has met with "notable skepticism and resistance." But he adds, "Simplifying a very complicated problem is probably the only disadvantage of the theo

(I can't post external link, yet, because I'm a new member).

Well this has some sense.

I disagree with being able to tell that there's only one reason for aga. Everything plays a role here and whoever disagrees with this is being ignorant imo. Diet is NOT the only problem, stress is NOT, lifestyle is NOT, gravity is NOT, toxins are NOT, etc. You can't really isolate what's the biggest problem there because it depends on the person. There is too much variability here to simply say, "you are doing this wrong therefore you are bald." But whoever is specialized in something will tell you their own thing.

From my experience, there was only 1 thing that helped my hair directly gain any thickness and stabilization in very short amount of time.

Keanoseg wrote:Well this has some sense.



From my experience, there was only 1 thing that helped my hair directly gain any thickness and stabilization in very short amount of time.

what was it ?

Yep, gravitational pressure might be a factor. I remember reading a point on here about how sleeping on the temples and the back of the head can cause pressure to cells, which leads to hypoxia and increased 5AR expression. The premise was, there is lack of subcutaneous fat, so cells compress easier than elsewhere where there is more adipose tissue.

For me it was DT..

Spidey, mechanically induced force on cellular level induces the activation of pathways which then further result in adipogenesis. Chronic pressure and hypoxia can never be good though but that's a part of life... sleeping. lol

estrogen,
cortisol,
prolactin,
melatonin,
histamines

and DHT are the problem. not just dht

I have found connections through which this technique regulates DHT ,estrogen, prostaglandin etc... but it's local. I can't talk about systemic.

It's a real enigma... everyone seems to be striving to make the scalp looser, but my temples are really loose, have sufficient adipose tissue, but are bald. The tightest parts of my head (which I can't pinch) produce hair without any problems.

Yeah I know what you mean. All the real progress I got was from loosening the top and around it. And I mean being able to pinch it. I can now pinch around mid and top, my temples were always pretty loose. However once I loosened my top and mid and was able to DT it, hairline thickened as a result.

iuyyighghghgkh wrote:estrogen,
cortisol,
prolactin,
melatonin,
histamines

and DHT are the problem. not just dht

How does melatonin have a negative effect? I'm currently taking it to help sleep :/

Here's something interesting on how mechanical force can damage internal tissues. Maybe this could be relative to pressure caused from sleeping on temples?

Compression-induced damage and internal tissue strains are related

abstract
Prolonged mechanical loading of soft tissues adjacent to bony prominences can lead to degeneration of
muscle tissue [scalp tissue is adjacent to the bony prominene of the skull], resulting in a condition termed pressure-related deep tissue injury. This type of deep
pressure ulcers can develop into a severe wound, associated with problematic healing and a variable
prognosis. Limited knowledge of the underlying damage pathways impedes effective preventive
strategies and early detection. Traditionally, pressure-induced ischaemia has been thought to be the
main aetiological factor for initiating damage. Recent research, however, proposes tissue deformation
per se as another candidate for initiating pressure-induced deep tissue injury. In this study, different
strain parameters were evaluated on their suitability as a generic predictive indicator for deep tissue
injury. With a combined animal-experimental numerical approach, we show that there is a reproducible
monotonic increase in damage with increasing maximum shear strain once a strain threshold has been
exceeded. This relationship between maximum shear strain and damage seems to reflect an intrinsic
muscle property, as it applied across a considerable number of the experiments. This finding confirms
that tissue deformation per se is important in the aetiology of deep tissue injury. Using dedicated finite
element modeling, a considerable reduction in the inherent biological variation was obtained, leading to
the proposal that muscle deformation can prove a generic predictive indicator of damag

Man this is where it gets complicated. But yeah nothing chronic and prolonged is good here. For example, a study that proposed a theory why obese people will keep their metabolism like that. Because they are sitting most of the time and are obese, the type of cellular mechanical loading that they experience will result in additional adipocytes making them fat forever if they don't move their ass. Even if they eat below metabolic caloric needs they won't lose fat no matter what.

Maybe this could be why some guys are reporting worse hairloss from DT some 9 months on? Maybe too much mechanical force from DT + pillows are causing pressure related deep tissue injury? YET some say DT is beneficial, so it might all be down to technique + how long it is done.

Well as I said on multiple occasions you must not force this and you have to listen to your body. And what this means is, don't continue to do DT beyond soreness, that is enough of a stimulans. And let your body recover. People think the more DT you do the better but no. Doing moderate DT to "easy" soreness and letting your scalp completely rest until you do it again is better than doing heavy DT to soreness and then doing it some more and doing it again before your body recovers. This is way too much of an overkill and if you do it like this everyday for months of course you're gonna develop some kind of chronic inflammation. It would be the same as everything else. This isn't different. This is also why I said that 2x20 mins doesn't really exist as real timing and everyone should find timing of their own because everyone is different. Appart from that, if you really want to do something while it's sore just do some mobillity/stretching.

theseeker86 wrote:

iuyyighghghgkh wrote:estrogen,
cortisol,
prolactin,
melatonin,
histamines

and DHT are the problem. not just dht

How does melatonin have a negative effect?  I'm currently taking it to help sleep :/

it can lower progesterone, perhaps

Keanoseg wrote:Well as I said on multiple occasions you must not force this and you have to listen to your body. And what this means is, don't continue to do DT beyond soreness, that is enough of a stimulans. And let your body recover. People think the more DT you do the better but no. Doing moderate DT to "easy" soreness and letting your scalp completely rest until you do it again is better than doing heavy DT to soreness and then doing it some more and doing it again before your body recovers. This is way too much of an overkill and if you do it like this everyday for months of course you're gonna develop some kind of chronic inflammation. It would be the same as everything else. This isn't different. This is also why I said that 2x20 mins doesn't really exist as real timing and everyone should find timing of their own because everyone is different. Appart from that, if you really want to do something while it's sore just do some mobillity/stretching.

This is actually a really good point. Since switching to guitar picks I've found it really easy to work each region to the point of soreness. I found myself overly concerned the other night about whether I did it enough, but eventually decided that it would be beneficial to take a rest because parts of my scalp were aching. It's not exactly a perfect comparison, but maybe it's best to think of approaching DT in the same sense as building muscle or endurance when jogging.

Spidey wrote:It's a real enigma... everyone seems to be striving to make the scalp looser, but my temples are really loose, have sufficient adipose tissue, but are bald. The tightest parts of my head (which I can't pinch) produce hair without any problems.

What I'm starting to notice is that there isn't always loss DIRECTLY under the tight areas. Sometimes they can be a few inches off. I believe tightness in some areas effects hairs in others. It's hard to explain but it's something I've noticed with my own scalp.

It's out-of-the-box thinking and mechanically makes some sense, but if it were a "major" cause, I'd expect all men to bald by their senior years and some unusual trend among people with connective tissue disorders. I've seen enough of the latter and have noticed nothing unusual about their amount of hair.

takingaction wrote:It's out-of-the-box thinking and mechanically makes some sense, but if it were a "major" cause, I'd expect all men to bald by their senior years and some unusual trend among people with connective tissue disorders. I've seen enough of the latter and have noticed nothing unusual about their amount of hair.

Yup.. what this doctor probably wanted to say is, that certain types of chronic pulling forces will help to create the enviroment needed for these biochemical processes, in people who are genetically sensitive to their effects.

Gravity causes hair loss.

What next ?

Breathing causes hair loss ?

Walking causes hair loss ?

Saying hi to your neighbours causes hair loss ?

Hair loss theories just get worse.

However,
David Wolfe mentioned that Rudolf Steiner spoke about gravity and the connection it had with the mineral silica and aging. worth a thought

Lol... I don't think you've analyzed this from the perspectives it needs to be.... but ok, I'll leave people thinking the gravity is a problem because of mineral silica think what ever they wish and won't say a word more.