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Skin receptors

: 

Your skin and deeper tissues contain millions of sensory receptors. 
 
Most of your touch receptors sit close to your skin's surface. 
 

Light touch  

•

Meissner's corpuscles are 
enclosed in a capsule of 
connective tissue 

•

 They react to light touch and are 
located in the skin of your palms, 
soles, lips, eyelids, external 
genitals and nipples  

•

these areas of your body are 
particularly sensitive. 

Heavy pressure 

•

Paccinian corpuscules sense 
pressure and vibration changes 
deep in your skin. 

•

Every square centimeter of your 
skin contains around 14 pressure  
receptors 

Pain 

•

skin receptors register pain 

•

pain receptors are the most 
numerous 

•

each square centimeter of your 
skin contains around 200 pain 
receptors 

Temperature 

•

skin receptors register warmth and cold

•

each square centimeter of your skin contains 6 receptors for cold and 1 receptor for warmth

•

Cold receptors

 start to perceive cold sensations when the surface of the skin drops below 95 º F. They 

are most stimulated when the surface of the skin is at 77 º F and are no longer stimulated when the 
surface of the skin drops below 41 º F. This is why your feet or hands start to go numb when they are 
submerged in icy water for a long period of time. 

•

Hot receptors

 start to perceive hot sensations when the surface of the skin rises above 86 º F and are 

most stimulated at 113 º F.  Beyond 113 º F, pain receptors take over to avoid damage being done to the 
skin and underlying tissues. 

•

thermoreceptors are found all over the body, but cold receptors are found in greater density than heat 
receptors – most of the time of our environment is colder than our body temperature  

•

The highest concentration of thermoreceptors can be found in the face and ears so your nose and ears 
always get colder faster than the rest of your body on a chilly winter day