Why do paper cuts hurt so much?

You hate paper cuts, right? Still, you’ve cut yourself in a paper once or twice or even multiple times, right? You can’t help it because paper seems so harmless at a first glance. We turn pages after pages and we get important knowledge off of it, but there are times when we also get a paper cut, much like a sacrifice on the shrine of knowledge, is that? Of course, we’re kidding, paper cuts are something you shouldn’t wish for, not even for your worst enemies. May all your homework papers and hours of book reading be smooth and without that instant jolt of pain that announces a paper cut! Still, let’s see why paper cuts hurt so much. There gotta’ be something, right?

Why do paper cuts hurt so much?

Paper cuts hurt so much because the paper is quite rough, much like a saw blade rather than a knife and it does a lot more damage to cells and nerve endings. Moreover, tiny fibers and chemical residues from the paper usually remain in the wound and irritate it even more. This is why a paper cut can hurt even more than a knife cut. Furthermore, your fingertips are more sensitive than say, your belly or knees and you don’t really get paper cuts on your belly, right? So, why are fingertips more sensitive? Because they’re engineered to feel. One of your senses is the sense of touch and the fingers are the primal tools for doing that and sending sensory information to your brain in order to process it. Fingertips can feel pain, pressure, and temperature easier than any other part of your body. Your fingertip contains a lot of nerve fibers which really hurt if you cut yourself in the paper.

Paper cuts hurt hours after you’ve cut yourself. You might ask yourself why this little wound hurts so much? Well, find out that it does because you constantly use your hands throughout the day and as you do, your skin moves, the laceration also gets pulled upon and the healing process is delayed. These fingertips of ours are how we do our small everyday tasks. They help us do everything and it makes sense to have a lot of nerve endings in there. More nerve endings mean more pain receptors and that is why you should handle paper with much more care in the future. We know you tell that yourself, but then the next time you go through some paperwork, you do it again: paper cut!

So, you should pay more attention because the pulp particles in the paper won’t make your life easier, they’ll leave your wound jagged and irregular. And you’ve asked yourself why does such a shallow small wound hurt so much because it looks like nothing from afar? Well, the fact that the wound doesn’t go deep enough is another factor that makes your problem a bit sour. Usually, paper cuts are shallow lacerations which make it hard for your body to properly clot, but they’re still deep enough to make your nociceptors (that is the pain receptors) go wild. This is another reason why a paper cut takes longer to heal than you’d expect.

How to heal a papercut?

As we were saying above, a paper is a “dull knife” and quite flexible as well. It cannot be compared to the edge of a knife. This is why, at a microscopic level, it will produce a lot more damage, by unevenly tearing the multitude of nerve fibers from your finger. Moreover, tiny residues from the paper can get stuck in the wound and irritate it more. So, what can you do when you get a paper cut? Clean the wound thoroughly and then cover it with a bandage and try to keep it as closed and covered as possible to reduce the irritation on the nerve fibers and also to let it heal properly and faster.

So, folks, all we can say is that the paper and pen are mightier than the sword and that you should not shun away from them, but still, handle them with care for they’re as valuable as the can be dangerous!