When I seen this question, it got me curious… I’d assume they both have similar results but work in different ways. Either one isn’t a good environment for Bacteria.
According to Google:
Lemon juice burns cut skin due to its high acidity (pH around 2.3), which can damage tissues and denature proteins, causing pain and irritation. The skin’s pain receptors are also highly sensitive to changes in pH, making the burning sensation even more noticeable.
Alcohol burns cut skin because it activates pain receptors in the skin called VR1 receptors, lowering the temperature threshold required for them to be stimulated. This causes the skin to feel a burning sensation, even though the temperature may not be high enough to actually cause a burn. Ethanol, a type of alcohol, triggers these receptors by causing skin cells to release the same signals they would under heat, effectively making the skin feel hotter than it actually is.
Just in-case you don’t know, Rubbing Alcohol and Hand Sanitizer both are alcohol based. (Ethanol and Isopropanol as Redditors pointed out)
low pH(increased acidity) damages your body’s tissues. it breaks down your proteins and overall our bodies don’t like being exposed to it because it creates a less than ideal environment for our body to function. the only reason the hydrochloric acid in our stomach doesn’t digest the stomach itself is because the cells are packed together, the stomach replaces itself very often, and the stomach cells secrete a lot of alkaline mucous that neutralizes the acid on the cell walls. that’s why alcohol burns on the way down but is (usually) okay in the stomach and it’s also why heartburn exists. the stomach acid irritates your esophagus because only the stomach can handle the acid. overall, acid is bad for us, we like more neutral stuff.
Others have mentioned why these things cause damage, but have not said why that damage specifically causes this feeling.
In brief, it feels like pain/burning because your nerves are receiving chemicals which trigger the “this feels like pain/heat” response. It doesn’t feel 100% exactly the same as actual heat because, for one thing, it isn’t actual heat, and for another because the chemical reaction is slightly different, so the neurons necessarily respond slightly differently.
Some of the pain also comes from these compounds actually killing your cells, which your body naturally does not appreciate and reacts to with a “STOP DOING THAT!!!” signal–aka pain. Pain is, generally speaking, meant to be a signal that something bad has happened and you need to address it, but as with any part of our bodies, it’s a blind signal–it can’t “know” anything, and it can be triggered by things that are actually good/desirable/important.
And to answer your other question: No, it does not always mean that the injury is being cleaned/sanitized. Lemon juice cannot sanitize, but will still sting. It can work as a rough-and-ready disinfectant, but it is not reliable. Likewise, any acidic solution will generally sting on contact with an open wound, but only specific things will actually sanitize it–the solution has to be able to actually kill germ cells, not just chemically interact with them.
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When I seen this question, it got me curious… I’d assume they both have similar results but work in different ways. Either one isn’t a good environment for Bacteria.
According to Google:
Lemon juice burns cut skin due to its high acidity (pH around 2.3), which can damage tissues and denature proteins, causing pain and irritation. The skin’s pain receptors are also highly sensitive to changes in pH, making the burning sensation even more noticeable.
Alcohol burns cut skin because it activates pain receptors in the skin called VR1 receptors, lowering the temperature threshold required for them to be stimulated. This causes the skin to feel a burning sensation, even though the temperature may not be high enough to actually cause a burn. Ethanol, a type of alcohol, triggers these receptors by causing skin cells to release the same signals they would under heat, effectively making the skin feel hotter than it actually is.
Just in-case you don’t know, Rubbing Alcohol and Hand Sanitizer both are alcohol based. (Ethanol and Isopropanol as Redditors pointed out)
low pH(increased acidity) damages your body’s tissues. it breaks down your proteins and overall our bodies don’t like being exposed to it because it creates a less than ideal environment for our body to function. the only reason the hydrochloric acid in our stomach doesn’t digest the stomach itself is because the cells are packed together, the stomach replaces itself very often, and the stomach cells secrete a lot of alkaline mucous that neutralizes the acid on the cell walls. that’s why alcohol burns on the way down but is (usually) okay in the stomach and it’s also why heartburn exists. the stomach acid irritates your esophagus because only the stomach can handle the acid. overall, acid is bad for us, we like more neutral stuff.
It’s ’cause those things… kinda irritate the nerves in the skin, not necessarily cleaning… just how the body reacts, I guess.
Others have mentioned why these things cause damage, but have not said why that damage specifically causes this feeling.
In brief, it feels like pain/burning because your nerves are receiving chemicals which trigger the “this feels like pain/heat” response. It doesn’t feel 100% exactly the same as actual heat because, for one thing, it isn’t actual heat, and for another because the chemical reaction is slightly different, so the neurons necessarily respond slightly differently.
Some of the pain also comes from these compounds actually killing your cells, which your body naturally does not appreciate and reacts to with a “STOP DOING THAT!!!” signal–aka pain. Pain is, generally speaking, meant to be a signal that something bad has happened and you need to address it, but as with any part of our bodies, it’s a blind signal–it can’t “know” anything, and it can be triggered by things that are actually good/desirable/important.
And to answer your other question: No, it does not always mean that the injury is being cleaned/sanitized. Lemon juice cannot sanitize, but will still sting. It can work as a rough-and-ready disinfectant, but it is not reliable. Likewise, any acidic solution will generally sting on contact with an open wound, but only specific things will actually sanitize it–the solution has to be able to actually kill germ cells, not just chemically interact with them.