Repair-primed immunity impairs hair growth

Repeated skin repair may prime an immune attack that emerges only when hair later grows. The hypothesis asks whether closed wounds retain less future repair capacity. Repair may expose hair-follicle antigens, features immune cells can recognize. During later anagen, the hair-growth phase, sensitized T cells, immune cells that kill recognized targets, would attack the follicles' descendants. A test would match closure and follicle recruitment, then seek targeted killing during anagen. Impairment transferred by T cells, normal reconstruction after immune cells are excluded, testing whether immunity drives damage, and restored hair production after interrupting the relevant T-cell response would favor this account over genome doubling or cells placed in the wrong niche.