Hi, can anyone recommend anything for chilli pepper burns. When I de-seed I wear gloves, however yesterday when I picked the chilli's I didn't wear gloves and one was a bit soft and I ended up with some chilli oil on my fingers. I throughly washed them with washing up liquid and hot water, they felt fine. When I was de-seeding them I wore gloves but a bit of chilli oil got me in the eye (not a good day!), I washed it out immediately with warm water and the eye is fine, however my fingers aren't. During the night I got a burning sensation on 3 fingers so i washed hands again this time with water and detol handwash, eased pain a bit but then came back. I tried lavender e.o (neat as I know one can use for burns, although this isn't a burn in that sense), but that's not helping, although that is a lovely smell of lavender in the bathroom! Looked on the net they suggested putting fingers in a bowl of ice-cold milk. I did that for about 20 minutes last night and that eased it for several hours. But this morning I have the burning sensation again so any suggestions. the fingers do not have blisters on them (ps next time I will use double layer gloves to pick and de-seed!)
thanks
Hi AtlanticPearl,
You won't get blisters because it's not a real burn that kills layers of skin, but rather a chemical reaction from the chillies. It's the same when we eat them, they won't really burn our mouth, it's just the chemical reaction that makes it seem that way.
Washing it off as soon as possible is the first best thing you can do, though the chilli (capsicum) can really get stuck into the skin, and that's the main problem. Apparently, lemon juice can help to neutralise it, and scrubbing with salt can help to remove the top layers of skin that are holding onto it, so perhaps scrubbing your hands (within reason, don't make yourself sore) with a salt/lemon juice paste may be something to try?
The solutions with milk, alcohol etc. are more for when it burns the mouth from what I understand.
All Love and Reiki Hugs
Hi AtlanticPearl,
You won't get blisters because it's not a real burn that kills layers of skin, but rather a chemical reaction from the chillies. It's the same when we eat them, they won't really burn our mouth, it's just the chemical reaction that makes it seem that way.
Washing it off as soon as possible is the first best thing you can do, though the chilli (capsicum) can really get stuck into the skin, and that's the main problem. Apparently, lemon juice can help to neutralise it, and scrubbing with salt can help to remove the top layers of skin that are holding onto it, so perhaps scrubbing your hands (within reason, don't make yourself sore) with a salt/lemon juice paste may be something to try?
The solutions with milk, alcohol etc. are more for when it burns the mouth from what I understand.
All Love and Reiki Hugs
Many thanks for your advice, much appreciated...think I will be off chillies for a while (actually I rarely eat them, very very occasionnal I will use a Chlli dipping sauce for perking up salmon) but I grow them for business and for seed saving. I will try and salt and lemon juice paste and give an answer whether it has helped later! Earlier (since posting) I did rub salt over the fingers and thendipped them in milk and rinsed off and that's helped a lot, still a slight burning sensation but nothing like it was.
Best wishes
I know drinking milk or adding cream can reduce the burning effect of chilli in the mouth so I imagine it will help with your hands. Hope they are feeling better now.