Chidanand Anvitha, Mysore Venkataram
Department of Dermatology, Nanjappa Multi-Speciality Hospital, Shivamogga, Karnataka, India.
Venkat Center for Skin ENT and Plastic Surgery, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Int J Trichology. 2025 Jan-Feb;17(1):1-3. doi: 10.4103/ijt.ijt_64_23. Epub 2025 Jun 23.
Human beings are the only primates without thick body hair. Evolution has played its part in reducing the thickness and density of body hair from our prime ancestors. To understand the causality of this, it is wise to explore three other characteristics which distinguish from other primates; bipedalism, practical nakedness, and the family reproductive unit. The evolution of hairlessness, combined with the need for efficient eccrine sweat production for cooling, provided evolutionary pressure to protect the skin from ultraviolet damage by developing cutaneous pigmentation. There was a subsequent loss of pigmentation as humans journeyed to northern latitudes. The relationship between nakedness, bipedality, the establishment of family reproductive unit, and the appearance of melanin in the skin all constitute a fascinating challenge to understand. It is indeed intriguing that while nature prefers the to be relatively naked and hairless, the is so obsessively fascinated with the preservation of persistence of hair. These issues are indeed very relevant for all physicians who treat hair, such as dermatologists and hair transplant surgeons.
人类是唯一没有浓密体毛的灵长类动物。进化在减少我们远古祖先的体毛厚度和密度方面发挥了作用。为了理解这其中的因果关系，明智的做法是探究另外三个将人类与其他灵长类动物区分开来的特征：两足行走、近乎裸体以及家庭生殖单位。无毛的进化，再加上为降温而高效分泌汗液的需求，为通过发展皮肤色素沉着来保护皮肤免受紫外线伤害提供了进化压力。随着人类迁徙到北纬地区，随后色素沉着减少。裸体、两足行走、家庭生殖单位的建立以及皮肤中黑色素的出现之间的关系，都构成了一个理解起来颇具吸引力的挑战。确实很有趣的是，虽然大自然倾向于人类相对裸体和无毛，但人类却如此痴迷于毛发的留存。这些问题对于所有治疗毛发问题的医生，如皮肤科医生和植发外科医生来说，确实非常重要。
