The Reason Why Paper Cuts Are Much More Painful Than Other Cuts

Last Updated on 2023-03-18 , 9:17 am

I once had a parang stuck firmly onto the side of my ribs by one of the bullies in school.

Okay, I’m just kidding, I haven’t. I probably wouldn’t be here right now if that had really happened.

This guy got a dart thrown onto his forehead though.

But if you ever had a paper cut before, you’ll know that it hurt so much more than the deeper cuts you’ve had in the past.  So much so that bells start ringing in your head and your breathing increases as your heart rate picks up.

It’s not a pleasant experience.

Just looking at it irks me.

So why exactly does it hurt so much?

1) Your fingertips have a whole load of nerve endings

According to Mosby’s Medical Dictionary, nerve endings are used by vertebrates (like you and me) to feel pain. And, if we were to believe Dr. Hayley Goldbach, our fingertips actually contain more nerve endings than the other parts of our body.

She’s the second-year resident physician in dermatology at UCLA, so I’m going to choose to believe her.

So basically, nerve endings which are used to sense pain are the primary cause of our unnecessary suffering.

Can’t really blame our bodies for this since we absolutely need our fingers to have these nerve receptors. How else will we be able to type on a QWERTY keyboard as effectively as we currently do?

But this isn’t exactly the only reason.

2) Not deep enough to activate clotting

I mean, is this even our fault at this point? We don’t really have much of a choice how deep we want our cuts to be.

But apparently, since our paper cuts aren’t actually that deep, our body doesn’t deem it serious enough to start the clotting process. Our blood doesn’t even reach the surface of the skin. So, you’re actually just left with an open wound.

It’s our body’s personal message to us to suck it up.

Besides, if you got a deeper cut I think you’ve got bigger problems to worry about than a little pain.

3) Paper is secretly a microscopic saw

You know saws, the cutting tools with jagged edges. Imagine that but on a microscopic scale, tearing up our skin as indelicately as possible.

This just leaves our skin messed up and if I were to imagine our skin with emotions they would be ‘tearing’ up on the inside. Sorry, I probably won’t do that again, puns are bad.

So yeah, the next time you get a paper cut, at least you know what’s going on that’s causing you so much pain.

Not that it will help much, but hey at least you’re crying with knowledge, right?