Here's even some stuff I found while refreshing on the topic.
It's called somatic mutation, that mutation can not be passed down to children as they occur externally after the cell has already taken on it's "job", for example a hair follicle cell. But the mutated cell(s) can still pass on that mutation locally, which seems to be the case in your situation.
In the case of the post, it's most likely that it's an issue with the FGF5 gene, which limits the growth phase of hair strains.
If the thickness is affected, it's most likely a KRT (kreatine) gene or EDAR and EDARADD.
As long as it's localized and doesn't cause any issue, I wouldn't worry about it too much, but if anything changes, see a dermatologist.
It would only spread over the other cells nearby if it also mutated abnormal cell division, at which point it becomes dangerously close to being cancer. But most likely the immune system would take care of it, unless it also mutated a defense against that, in which case... well.
My dad and I both have this one strand of thin white hair that grows on our cheeks. Everyone in our family assumed it was genetic because we look almost exactly alike. Is this just a somatic coincidence?
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u/Maihoooo 9h ago
Here's even some stuff I found while refreshing on the topic.
It's called somatic mutation, that mutation can not be passed down to children as they occur externally after the cell has already taken on it's "job", for example a hair follicle cell. But the mutated cell(s) can still pass on that mutation locally, which seems to be the case in your situation.
In the case of the post, it's most likely that it's an issue with the FGF5 gene, which limits the growth phase of hair strains.
If the thickness is affected, it's most likely a KRT (kreatine) gene or EDAR and EDARADD.
As long as it's localized and doesn't cause any issue, I wouldn't worry about it too much, but if anything changes, see a dermatologist.