Meh, this one is a question I had a few years ago and had it answered very well by my primary care physician (who, coincidentally did a study on it a while ago). No, they do no have a lower tolerance. And no, redheads in general have no special pain tolerances. However, those redheaded women have a special ability... Redheaded women have an innate ability to tolerate more pain than other people. In studies on "redhead" mice, which actually have blonde fur but carry a similar gene to the one that causes red hair in humans, scientists from the Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh, Scotland were able to target the pain-reducing mechanism. These red-haired mice have a similar ability as human female redheads to withstand higher pain thresholds compared with other mice and require less anesthetic to block out certain kinds of pain. This Scottish study was a follow-up to research conducted at McGill University in Montreal several years ago. While testing the painkilling drug pentazocine, the McGill researchers discovered that the same gene that gives women red hair and fair skin also plays a role in the body's natural pain suppression system. However, it doesn't work for male carrot-tops. Redheaded women can tolerate more pain than anyone else, including men with red hair and men and women who do not have red hair - the reason for which I'm not sure (the chromosomal difference, possibly). The others all had a similar and much lower tolerance to pain than flame-haired females. Another possibility is women carry more of that pain reducing gene than red-haired men do. See below for another possibility better answered by neuro-science. "While we believe pain is the same in all women of all hair colors, our study shows women with red hair respond better to the painkilling drug we tested than anyone else--including men," lead researcher Jeffrey S. Mogil, a professor of pain studies at McGill, said in a news release. Why would the gene that gives red hair and fair skin--identified as Mc1r--work differently in redheaded men and women? Mogil told Reuters that men and women are using different pain pathways. "If they were using the same pathways, then the redhead gene would have the same impact for both sexes," he added. When we experience pain, our bodies attempt to dull the discomfort by releasing natural substances that are similar to medications like morphine. The gene Mc1r influences the pathway through which the body doles out those naturally occurring painkillers in women. It appears that in most people, the Mc1r gene produces a protein that reduces the ability of opioid drugs to block pain; however, in redheaded women, who have a non-functional version of the gene, such painkillers are free to work unhindered. The goal of this ongoing research is to determine if there is a natural mechanism at work in redheads that can be adapted to help develop new painkillers and anesthetics for the rest of us. Thanks to Netscape for help with the answer. Hope you enjoyed. Yay!

yes, redheads have a lower tolerance to pain and require more local anesthetic for ER and Dental procedures. that's been known for many decades.

Quite the opposite, redheads have a higher tolerance for pain.

I am a natural redhead and can tell you my own experiences. I am 37 years old and have had two surgical procedures that I was put to sleep with anesthesia. During both procedures I woke up in severe pain and was so awake could talk to the doctor and tell him what I was feeling. In the end, it took double the normal dosage of medication to keep me under for these procedures. Also, i take no prescription drugs or "street drugs", therefore have not "built up a tolerance" for medication. I say this because I have run into this question in my research of this subject. It has always taken higher dosages of pain medication for me to get relief. I realized this after having my wisdom teeth pulled several years ago. I never understood why until I started to do my own research and found so much information on redheads and pain medication. I hope this answers some questions or helps someone like myself who was confused for years.

WRONG!THEY DO HAVE A LOWER TOLLERANCE FOR PAIN but Males & Females are different..... I've taken great interest in this since my daughter is a true red-head & with her gall-bladder surgery they could not use the same pain killers as for most...It took them 2 days to control her pain levels! This article is a section of an article from MSN HEALTH Nov.2, 2008 called Do Women Have a Higher Pain Threshold?/By Maia Szalavitz for MSN Health & Fitness "Anesthesiologists had long reported that redheads tended to need more anesthesia than others. But until 2002, no studies had been presented on the subject. However, when a research group in Louisville, Ky., studied the phenomenon, they found that redheads did indeed need larger doses of a common anesthetic—about 20 percent higher, on average—to blunt the pain from electrical shock. This finding turned out to only be part of the story. In research conducted by Mogil's group on opioid medications, only redheaded women were different from others in the way these drugs relieved their pain. Plus they needed less opioid painkillers than brunettes or blondes. Male redheads were the same as everyone else. Why would this be? Differing pain pathways... It turns out that processing pain involves a receptor which, when mutated, produces red hair and fair skin, among other changes. This receptor—the MC1r receptor— was initially thought to occur only in the skin. However, it has now been found in the brain, and there, in women, it's part of the pathway that processes pain. "In males, an NMDA receptor processes pain that can be modulated by opioids," says Mogil. "In females, there appear to be no NMDA receptors involved. Instead, women use the MC1r receptors." In redheads, that receptor is mutated, and this makes opioids work more efficiently for them. In fact, Mogil says that opioids probably work better for women than men in general—and this may be due to the different pathways involved. Overall, the research so far shows how complicated pain is—the genetics that underlie the effects of anesthesia (which kills pain by causing numbness or unconsciousness) are different from those that determine the effects of analgesia (which reduces or eliminates pain without numbness or unconsciousness). These findings also mean that both genders need to be studied in pain research so that any differences can be discovered—and accounted for in treatment. What does this mean if you're a redhead? Natural redheads undergoing surgery should be sure that their physicians know that their hair is naturally that color—and people who dye their hair red may want to be sure their anesthesiologists are aware of this as well, so that anesthesia can be adjusted accordingly if needed. When it comes to using opioids, carrot tops should be careful to start with the lowest effective dose. It's possible that increased sensitivity could mean that they are at higher risk for overdose, though this has not been proven." There are many studies out there. I dissagree that there is no difference. AND...there must be some validity to the question, or why else would there be so many of these studies? THINK ABOUT IT! RED HEADS DO HAVE A LOWER PAIN TOLLERANCE

I have red hair and, supposedly, we need more anesthesia and more pain killers during medical procedures. I can't say whether this is true or not, I can only relate my own experiences. My surgeon told me that I would not remember the day of my surgery due to anesthesia and pain killers. I can remember my father visiting me 15 minutes after I left the operating room. I was given conscious sedation for another procedure and told that I would have no memory of the procedure. I remember the whole thing. So, yes, in my experience, I do require higher doses of anesthesia to knock me out.

I must say I'm totally confused! I'm a natural redhead and have always had the impression that I can handle more pain than the average. I've birthed three children without pain relief of any kind. Sure, it hurt, but it was tolerable. Then while having some mild sedation for a leg vein removal, I had to request more pain meds. At the end of the procedure, when I asked why the doc was chuckling, he told me that HE had a procedure recently that required half the dosage I had just received and he wasn't even coherent, much less chatting with everyone as I was doing. So, how can you have a higher pain tolerance and STIll need more pain relief medication/anesthesia?

No, redheads do NOT have a higher pain tolerance. They are the same(if not lower) as(than) everyone else.

No, redheads do NOT have a higher pain tolerance. They are the same(if not lower) as(than) everyone else.

Pain tolerance and the need for more or less analgesic or anesthesia does not go hand in hand. Read some of the articles more carefully. Pain tolerance is poorly understood, and the studies concerning redheaded women are conflicting. The results seem to differ with the type of stimuli used. The whole topic of pain perception needs more study. Redheaded women and the MC1R polymorphism they carry cause them to respond strongly to opiates and to not respond as strongly to analgesics and anesthesia. This is NOT the same thing as having higher or lower pain tolerances, a link that Nanna1 seems to be drawing. It just means that you need to alert your physician, dentist, nurse, what have you, to being a natural redhead, making sure they are aware of the studies, and then adjustments to medication can be made. This redhead is out. :)

I have red hair and seem to have a higher pain tolerance than most. I think this might be just one of many myths about redheads.