Redheads are often thought to be quick-tempered and able to handle more pain than others. While there isn't scientific proof of the quick temper, recent research suggests there might be some truth to their higher pain tolerance. Scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have discovered why people with red hair
Contradicted by evidence, some years ago.
A study in a dental clinic used measurement of local-anaesthetic to measure how pain-sensitive redheads are…
It took … was it 10% more? Definitely more, pain-killer for the redheads.
The genetic-defect which codes for red-hair, and splotchy-skin, also codes for being more pain-sensitive.
It also explains why redheads are “more reactive” as lifelong-pain-sensitized people naturally would be, doesn’t it?
( I look Irish: my hair’s gone white, but the fur on my arms is still orange )
I talk to anaesthetists though work and they say us redheads need more to be kept under. It’s my anecdotal experience with local as well, I always tell dentists and other non specialists that I need more than usual, they never believe me and then they have to give me additional shots later cuz it still hurts. Some try to perform the procedure anyway, which I usually can’t cope with, so I’m not so sure I can handle pain better than others.
There’s an important distinction to be made between pain threshold (when a sensation is recognised as painful) and pain tolerance.
Were the dentists trying to find out how much was needed for the subject to notice the painful stimulus, or for them to no longer be able to tolerate it?
TTBOMK, it was simply recording how much local-anaesthetic was required, per patient, to get them OK with the work,
& there was a 10% consistently higher requirement among the redheads…
That’s evidence, not theory.
Which is why I don’t accept the article’s idea.
( & I admire the elegance of the experiment, too : )
I dont much about this topic, but isnt anesthesia efficacy different from a person’s pain threshold?
Interesting insight!
I believe that anaesthetic is dependent on its interfering with mitochondria ( Nick Lane’s Royal Institution talk, on yt, for that insight ),
so it’d be the same for all, from that angle … but if there’s a flaw in our neurology which makes anaesthetic not work as well…
thank you!