Many on the internet have been left terrified after seeing what the worst pain a human can experience actually looks like under a microscope.
Whether it be kick in the groin for men or childbirth for women, many of us have got a pretty good idea on what really bad pain looks like.
But the worst bit of pain a human can ever experience? Well, that's been decided by a study.
Those who are impacted by kidney stones will know all about unbearable pain - something a study has looked into.
Advert
Authors of the research, Saiful Miah, Charlotte Gunner, Lucy Clayton, Suresh Venugopal, Nigel R Boucher, and Bo Parys wrote: "Thirty-six male and 23 female patients fully completed the questionnaire with age, stone size, and numerical pain rating score recorded.
"From the male cohort of patients, 88.9% stated that it was the worst pain they had ever experienced and for the female cohort this was 78.2%."
Professor Troy Madsen, who specializes in emergency medicine and surgery at the University of Utah, spoke all about kidney stones.
Advert
“I don't know that I ever see anyone on a regular basis in the ER who has more pain than a person who's there with a kidney stone,” he explained.
“You can tell,” he added. “You walk in the room, they're writhing […] It's just incredible pain.”
Images released from a lab at Eastfield College in Dallas reveals what passing kidney stones actually looks like up-close under a microscope.
Essentially, kidney stones form when your urine can’t dilute all of the substances found within it, such as calcium and uric acid.
Advert
These substances end up forming these spiky crystals that can be seen in the images, causing significant pain in the process.
Reddit users described the image as showing 'death by a thousand cuts' at 'one of the most sensitive points of your body'.
Advert
One person said: "Someone asked me what it feels like when a kidney stone is actively passing, and I described as having a baseball bat covered in sand spurs being jammed into your urethra. This picture further validates my claim."
Another simply said: "Feels like it looks."
A third added: "Getting kidney stones is one of my greatest fears. I've heard friends talk about how terrible it was. Motivates me to always drink enough water!"
While a third remarked: "I didn't know it but I had a kidney stone that hurt so bad I vomited, laid me flat out. Even Oxycontin didn't help. The next day it passed to my utter relief. I was the size of a match head. I can't imagine the pain of multiple and/or larger stones."
Callum Jones