Why don’t old bald men have wrinkles on their heads?
Jonas Michelon,
Ijuí, RS
Because of less flaccidity and lack of contraction of the scalp musculature. “With baldness, there is atrophy and retraction of the skin tissue of the scalp, which becomes thinner, with less elasticity, harder and stretched by proximity to the skull bone. This prevents the appearance of wrinkles”, says dermatologist João Carlos Pereira, from São José do Rio Preto (SP). The shrinking and thinning of the scalp occurs because of the atrophy of the hair follicles, which leads to hair loss. Also, the musculature of the head doesn’t contract to form wrinkles – even when someone frowns, they don’t exercise the muscles at the top of the head. “The only wrinkle that can reach the scalp, but only part of it, is when the individual sleeps a lot on one side and folds the skin against the pillow”, says dermatologist Marcus Maia, from São Paulo. On the face, it’s another story. Facial wrinkles are, in most cases, caused by the natural aging of the skin and the consequent reduction of elastic fibers and collagen (a protein that gives strength and flexibility to the skin), by damage to the superficial fibers of the skin caused by solar radiation and by nicotine, which also reduces the amount of collagen in the skin. “The more of these factors an individual has, the bigger their facial wrinkles will be,” says Marcus.