Emerging evidence suggests that some phenotypic features, such as eye or hair colour, might predict pain. We investigated if light and dark eye and hair colour would influence pain in 60 healthy subjects divided in groups of 15 according to their eye-hair colour and gender. Pressure pain thresholds (PPTs), cold pressor test (CPT), and quality of the perceived pain were assessed. Findings indicated that dark pigmentation phenotype is more sensitive in response to CPT.
Keywords: Pain; phenotype; pigmentation.