This Is Why Paper Cuts Hurt So Much, According To Science

Paper cuts are absolutely tiny - but the very thought of sustaining one can make many grown adults shudder in pure horror.

So why are paper cuts so bad?

It’s partly down to where we tend to incur the wounds, says dermatologist Dr. Hayley Goldbach, speaking to BBC Future.

Goldback says, ‘It would probably also hurt a lot if you got a paper cut on your face or in your genitals, if you can imagine that

‘Fingertips are how we explore the world, how we do small delicate tasks. So it makes sense that we have a lot of nerve endings there. It’s kind of a safety mechanism.’

But another factor is that while paper cuts seem like innocuous little nicks, they are actually far worse than they look.

They’re not clean little cuts at all, but jagged wounds cutting right through bundles of your most sensitive nerve cells, Scientific American revealed last year.

Ferris Jabr of Scientific American says, ‘A paper cut is not as clean as it looks. The edge of paper looks smooth, but it is actually jagged.

‘The piece of paper cuts through skin more like a small saw than a knife.