diff --git a/doc/api.yaml b/doc/api.yaml
index 337065a..2a89878 100644
--- a/doc/api.yaml
+++ b/doc/api.yaml
@@ -1080,9 +1080,9 @@ components:
         comment:
           $ref: "#/components/schemas/comment"
     comment:
-      minLength: 5
+      minLength: 1
       maxLength: 255
-      pattern: ".*" #everything except newlines ^[*]{5, 255}$
+      pattern: "^(.){1,255}$" # everything except newlines
       type: string
       example: "What a lovely picture! 😊"
       description: The comment's text
@@ -1092,7 +1092,7 @@ components:
       format: binary
       minLength: 1
       maxLength: 10485760 # 10 MB
-      pattern: "((.|\n)*)" # todo: review. Btw this means "any string"
+      pattern: "((.|\n)*)" # this accepts everything
 
     generic_response:
       type: object
diff --git a/service/api/comments.go b/service/api/comments.go
index aade789..cd5dac2 100644
--- a/service/api/comments.go
+++ b/service/api/comments.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package api
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"net/http"
-	"regexp"
 	"strconv"
 
 	"github.com/julienschmidt/httprouter"
@@ -89,15 +88,7 @@ func (rt *_router) PostComment(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, ps httpro
 	}
 
 	// check if the comment is valid (should not contain newlines and at be between 5 and 255 characters)
-	stat, err := regexp.Match(`^(.*)*`, []byte(request_body.Comment))
-
-	if err != nil {
-		helpers.SendInternalError(err, "Error matching regex", w, rt.baseLogger)
-		return
-	}
-
-	if !stat || len(request_body.Comment) < 5 || len(request_body.Comment) > 255 {
-		helpers.SendBadRequest(w, "Invalid comment", rt.baseLogger)
+	if !helpers.MatchCommentOrBadRequest(request_body.Comment, w, rt.baseLogger) {
 		return
 	}
 
diff --git a/service/api/helpers/regex-helpers.go b/service/api/helpers/regex-helpers.go
index b3684a7..8581101 100644
--- a/service/api/helpers/regex-helpers.go
+++ b/service/api/helpers/regex-helpers.go
@@ -31,3 +31,10 @@ func MatchUsernameOrBadRequest(username string, w http.ResponseWriter, l logrus.
 		w,
 		l)
 }
+
+func MatchCommentOrBadRequest(comment string, w http.ResponseWriter, l logrus.FieldLogger) bool {
+	return MatchRegexOrBadRequest(comment,
+		`^(.){1,255}$`, "Comment must be between 1 and 255 characters long",
+		w,
+		l)
+}