Does Eye Color Predict Response to Pain?

The color of a person’s eyes may predict how that person responds to pain.

“There may be certain phenotypes that predict or indicate a person’s response to pain stimuli or drug treatment for pain,”  says Inna Belfer, MD, PhD, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pennsylvania.

“Human pain is correlated with multiple factors like gender, age, and hair color,” Dr. Belfer said here at the American Pain Society (APS) 33rd Annual Scientific Meeting. 

“Researchers have found that red hair is associated with resistance to anesthetics and also to increased anxiety and darker eye color has been reportedly found to correlate with increased physiologic reactivity and drug-induced pupil dilation.“

Dr. Belfer added that her anesthesiology colleagues reported noticing a similar association.

“They said that looking in the eyes of their patients tells them if they can expect more or less trouble during the procedures and they can tell who will develop more severe pain or who will respond differently to anesthesia and analgesia,” she said.