| schema:text
| - A growing body of research suggests that mice and people with red hair may have higher pain thresholds. On the other hand, some research suggests redheads “may be especially sensitive to pain.” Understanding of this phenomenon is largely inconclusive as of this writing. In short, more scientific research is needed.
Since the early 2000s, researchers have found connections between mutations responsible for red hair and pain tolerance.
Some social media users have since claimed people with redheads have a "higher pain threshold," while others have said redheaded people require more pain medication.
A growing body of research suggests mice and people with red hair may have higher pain thresholds. However, contrary research suggests redheads "may be especially sensitive to pain." Therefore, as of this writing, understanding of this phenomenon is largely inconclusive.
In short, this claim requires more scientific research, which is why we rated it as "Unproven."
A 2005 article written by George R. Hansen, MD, titled "Management of Chronic Pain in the Acute Care Setting" and published in the journal "Emergency Medicines Clinics of North America," said pain tolerance appears to be genetic, and understanding anesthetics can provide insight into pain tolerance.
But the question of whether redheads have a higher pain threshold took off in 2004 when an article published in the journal Anesthesiology reported that people with the MC1R gene mutation needed as much as 19% more anesthesia than other people.
Dr. Steve Richeimer — an expert in pain medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California — wrote in May 2023 that although research "done on [redheads and pain tolerance] over the years has been conflicting," it is an important factor in considering pain management.
Red Hair Is Caused by a Mutation of the MC1R Gene
Humans have what is known as the melanocortin receptor system, consisting of five closely related receptors, or communication systems, within the body that are involved in pigmentation.
Red hair is caused by a mutation of the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene, which controls melanin, the pigment that gives color to hair, skin and eyes (there are at least eight genes linked to red hair, according to research conducted by the University of Edinburgh). Pain and sensitivity have also been linked to the MC1R gene in both humans and mice with red hair mutations.
MC1R Gene Is Related to Pain Tolerance
A study involving red-haired mice with the same MC1R gene found in people with red hair was published in Science Advances in April 2021. By cross-breeding red-haired mice with an albino strain, they found those with the MC1R red-hair variant had a higher threshold for pain. In essence, the MC1R gene affects pain tolerance, not necessarily pigmentation.
Researchers writing in 2011 in the Scandinavian Journal of Pain also found that red-haired females were less sensitive to pin-pricks compared to blond or dark-haired females.
Anecdotal evidence also suggests individuals with red hair require more anesthesia on average than those with other hair types, but lower doses of pain-killing analgesics, such as opioids.
However, scientific literature has not yet conclusively agreed that people with red hair can tolerate more pain.
For example, in 2005, researchers wrote in the journal Anesthesiology that redheads may, in fact, be "especially sensitive to pain" and are resistant to lidocaine applied topically and under the skin.
Similarly, a
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)