This week we were given a large bounty of homegrown vegetables from Garrett’s parents, which I immediately planned to use to make Ratatouille.
They gave us eggplants, green peppers, onions and tomatoes. On a visit to our own garden I spotted those little green hot peppers on the bottom of the picture. After taking a little bite of one, I decided they weren’t much hotter than a jalapeño, so I decided to chop some up to toss into the vegetable stew.
Within minutes of finishing chopping up the 5 peppers my skin started to burn. Similar to when you get salt or lemon juice in wound. I tried to wash off the oil from the pepper (which is what makes the heat) with some grease cutting dish soap, but soon the burning started to get worse.
The burning sensation started feeling like when you accidentally touch a hot pan, but instead of stopping, it kept getting hotter and hotter.
Uh Oh.
Now that I knew what I was dealing with, I searched up plenty of home remedies.
I tried soaking my hands in thick cream and then milk too, but as soon as the liquid started to get to room temperature the burn sensation returned with a vengeance.
I found this photo on my camera this morning, which Garrett must have taken around midnight when I finally got a 30 minute nap before the burning sensation came back and woke me up.
By 4:30am we were back home with a pharmacy bag full of Tylenol 3’s, anti-inflammatory pills, steroid cream and an antibiotic cream to prevent infection. And a fast food burger because it had been 9 hours since we had the Ratatouille. Nothing like a burger in the middle of the night.
The pills thankfully gave me some much needed sleep, but I still had to keep my hands in an ice water bath even while I slept. As soon as the water got warm again, I’d wake up in pain.
After 24 hours of this cocktail of pills and creams, I finally started to feel normal in the early hours this morning. I still can’t drive because of the pills, so even though I can use my hands again, I’m staying home from work today. Not exactly how I wanted to spend the last days of summer, but it could have been much worse.
I can still expect to feel sensitivity on my skin and nerve endings in the hands, but other than that, I should expect a full recovery.
So what did I learn from this?
Even if you think you know how hot a pepper is, you can never be sure, until it is too late. I’ve already got “disposable gloves” on the shopping list this week.
Good Post…………glad you are okay. I did a similar thing about 30 years ago. Cut the peppers and touched my eye. I ran screaming to the sink and rinsed it off. Pain was awful and ended up in the ER getting an hour of eye washing. Luckily I did not burn my retina. Looking foward to more posts on sweet Whiskey guy! Congrats to your Mom. Mel
I just did the same thing with jalapeños! I am in so much pain it feels like I was hit by a hot pan ? ive learned my lesson for sure
I’ve had the same situation happen to me–not nearly as bad as your story–but it was painful, frustrating, and taught me a lesson…. Gloves always!!
It is good to always try first to hold the burned area under cool running water for 10 or 15 minutes until the pain subsides. Do not use cold water, just cool water. If you find this is impractical though, then try to immerse the burn in cool water or cool it with cold compresses. Cooling the burn reduces swelling by carrying out heat away from the skin, but don’t put ice on the burn as it will further irritate it since the burned skin would be fragile and would be prone to cracking.
Aubrey Holloway
Sounds like you didn’t read the story.
Yep. Water can actually make this particular situation worse in the long run (though it feels nice in the moment) because the Capsaicin is in the oil, and water spreads it. Milk / olive oil / oil-based cleanser can help a little more. I’m dealing with habanero hands at the moment so I can testify to this working lol. That advice with the cool water is good for an actual temperature burn, though, but not for the issue of Capsaicin. Because though it can cause irritation and pain, it doesn’t actually “burn” the skin in the literal sense.
I agree with Aubrey. Washing your hand with cool running water helps. Other chemicals might just further irritate the burned area. Always proceed with caution as you might be actually helping to worsen a situation. It is advisable to immediately call for medical assistance whenever you are faced with burn problems.
Sharleen Jernigan
Hi, I cut a bunch of scotch bonnet pepper at work today trippled up on the latex gloves and the capsicum (the chemical that makes hot peppers hot) seeped right through them. Now not only are my hands burning but my face and my arms feel like I got a really bad sunburn.
The oil can seep through latex. So try rubber gloves next time!
Shocking that stores Hardly ever indicate that this could happen with peppers like this. I have some ice in some paper towel and both hands are cupping it for the past 13 hours.
Oh I’m sorry to hear you’ve had this too. Hope it’s feeling better now!
i just did the same thing 6 hours ago. i have never screamed like that before. ever. i learned.
Ahhhhh help? fingers are burning right this moment, glad to know its still happening in 2020 hehe
its still happening in 2021 my fingers are on fire
It happened to me today and im still in pain.. soon as d liquid cools in the waterbath, the pain and burning starts back.. worse feeling ever in my life
It’s happening to me right now SOS
Omg this is happening me right now.. Its been 4 hrs and u have to go to work in about 8 hrs time.. Please tell me I will be ok
Someone at work had left a bag of peppers in the break room for people to take. I didn’t recognize them (not much of a green thumb here). Wednesday night I ended up in the ER because I cut them for salsa with my bare hands. I couldn’t believe how painful my hands were. Everything I tried seemed to amplify the burn. It’s been a day and a half and my hands still feel hypersensitive, but the burn has subsided. After a shot of tramadol in the ER and a prescription for pain pills I was sent home and finally slept clutching an ice pack. Lesson learned. Know your pepper BEFORE you cut it! (I do feel a little better hearing that I’m not the only one!)
Dealing with this now. This was the first year I grew habanero peppers so I made hot sauce. I didn’t use gloves and got steam in my face after blending all the hot ingredients together and didn’t understand how bad of an idea that was. The next thing I knew my face was on fire and I had to stumble upstairs blind into the shower to rinse off and realized that just made it worse. It was a horrific experience but I was fortunate enough to know how to keep it out of my eyes and an hour later my face was more numb then burning. 24 hours later my hands are still burning. I should have known better, so silly, these are NOT jalapeño. Great article!
Stumbled across your post the other night after chopping four seemingly-benign poblanos (that must’ve aspired to become ghost peppers). My hands, mostly the right pepper-holding one, burned for hours as I tried every online remedy that I found (rubbing alcohol, vegetable oil, vinegar, baking soda, cornstarch, degreasing spray, and dairy yogurt). Worst pain in my life (and I’ve had major abdominal surgery plus a couple broken bones); I was literally nauseated. Reading Amanda’s comment about extra-strength Tylenol squelching the pain enough to allow her to get a bit of sleep was a eureka moment – popped two pills and, fifteen minutes later, the pain started to subside. I’ve experienced a little bit of discomfort after working with jalapeños before, but NOTHING like the number those poblanos worked on me. Can’t imagine the agony of tangling with Scotch Bonnets .. I’ve also added “disposable rubber gloves” to my shopping list. Thanks for the good advice!
I’m sorry to hear you had a bad experience too, Mary! You’d never think cutting peppers could be so bad until you deal with it first hand. Glad to hear it helped with the pain. Get well soon.
So reassuring to read this article as I’m lying here at 3.30 am with intense burning sensation on my hands keeping me awake. I’m over 60 and have never experienced this before. The chillis I chopped up this afternoon seemed no different to those I’ve used before and I’m shocked at the reaction I’m having. Only thing that’s helped at all is aloe Vera. Gloves from now on for me.
This happend to me. I washed my hand with dish soap with warm water to open pores up again. Then put olive oil and washed. Did it 3 times. All pain went away in some minutes. Painful but works…
Ghost pepper burn – the worst pain of my life! I repeated the dish soap/rinse with warm water (vomit inducing pain)/olive oil/rinse combo around 6 times and then wrapped an ice pack around my hand to sleep. Managed to sleep through and woke up next morning just tender but not sore. I hope this helps the next poor fool!
It has been over a week since I chopped up some hot peppers and spent a sleepless night with hot pepper hands. Not only that, but my entire esophagus and even my feet burned all night! It’s like the stuff traveled throughout my whole body. Anyway, my feet still burn when I have shoes on, and my hands burn like heck when I put them in hot water. Yikes! How long will this last? Is there anything that can be done a week later?
Oh no Barbara! I’m sorry to hear you had this too. Mine went away after about 5 days but then whenever I had my hands in really hot water they still ached for months. I hope you’ve had an easy recovery.
I don’t know how on earth I have gotten such a bad pepper burn from pablano peppers but I have been in severe pain for the last 5 hrs and have tried everything imaginable and nothing is helping.
I wish I couldn’t drive on Tylenol 3’s
24 hours ago, I hand-chopped a dozen jalapeño peppers and hours later, my hands felt lightning-hot. It was gone until I got into a hot bath tonight. That brought it back even worse than yesterday!
Omg I’m going through this right now!!! I usually eat scotch bonnet peppers since my family is from Jamaica, but this is my first time cutting them myself. My fingertips are on fire, especially when I apply a little pressure to it.
I tried washing, oil, cream and nothing seems to work. I’m just gonna try the Tylenol and lay down, see if that helps.
Ohhh the agony!
I really appreciate you sharing this experience!
I made a chile relleno casserole last night. DIdn’t touch the seeds when I chopped the pasilla peppers, but pulled some of the lighter flesh lines out of the inside of the pepper with my non-dominant hand. I also, though I don’t remember doing it, touched the delicate flesh in between my nostrils. That’s where I noticed a burning starting. It got fairly painful and I realized we had a big container of yogurt in the fridge (THANK GOD!) I put a bunch of yogurt on my nose area and that relieved me in just a few minutes.
After 20 minutes the fingers on my left hand started burning, worse than anything I’ve felt before. It kept getting worse. I tried washing, adding lotion, that just made it worse. Eventually, I had my husband fill a latex glove with yogurt and help me put it on that hand. Then I took 2 advil and a benedryl. I felt pretty goofy, but it cooled it off for an hour or so. When I took the glove off, the burning pain returned and it kept getting more and more painful. I wrapped my hand in a ziploc bag with ice in it. That kept the burning at bay. I fell asleep and woke up 6 hours later holding a bag of water.
The pain was just some minor burning under my fingernails, which is still there, waxing and waning. I thought pasilla peppers were benign, friendly lil peppers, but from now on I’m wearing gloves whenever I work with them!
I am having this sensation on my left hand and it’s been 4 hours now. Should I panic? It’s super sensitive to heat.
My wife cut a jalepeno today and cleaned it first then wiped it with a napkin and then cut it also using the same napkin wiped the knife and her hands. She now has a burning sensation continuing on her hand. She’s tried the milk but is now wiping her hands with an alcohol wipe and starting the dairy cooling process. What can she do to stop the burn.
I’ve been up all night with my 14 year old daughter, she cut some jalapenos last night (like she always does) and this time was much worse. We have tried everything we have read online, but I think after reading this we will head to the emergency room. I feel so badly for her, I’ve never experienced anything this extreme. I hope the ER will be able to relieve her from this pai .
This brings me such relief to read! I was up at least half the night with burning fingers after naively chopping what I think were Serrano peppers.
Yesterday was the day..cut four green peppers and end up in the ER with burning hands. Both hands were red and felt stingy..tried everything but only the cool ice water did work..others just increased the hottness. My hands were being kept near to the AC throught 2 hours and without it the burning sansation was seemed to be same or more than before..I was mocked by my family members too. They thought its just a samething that happen to them. But I knew there is something wrong in my case cause i was already a Hashimoto thyroditis patient. Got some allermine pill and went to the ER. End up getting anti infalmatory drugs and oinments. After two three hours it did dissapear but the tip of my fingers are still feeling the little bit of burn flashes. Learnt the lesson. Always use gloves when cutting the hot peppers…
Ty so much it recently happened to they put a different hot pepper an after doing all prep my hand was on fire skin heat,got the milk an soak for bout 45 minutes, ty for sharing.
Thank you all for your suggestions. I tried them all — no help. I finally thought to cut a leaf off of my aloe plant and slathering the juice inside my hands. If I hands wet with juice and directed a fan at my hands the pain was tolerable. It subsisted to a tolerable level without the fan five hours later. My hands are stiff and show burn marks today like if I had been in a fire. I will NEVER touch a pepper again!
“I will NEVER touch a pepper again!” This is how I feel. ? My right hand is on fire at the moment. ?
My daughter is going through it now. She chopped jalopeno peppers. She has a baby and is afraid to touch her. My daughter is in a lot of pain. I suggested cold water (iced) or cool and pain relief meds. Tylenol nd Advil You can take them together.
I just experienced this last night. It was unbearable for about 6-7 hours. Today, my hands are sensitive and I cannot touch my eyes still. How long until the sensitivity goes away on hands?
Hi, I chopped a home grown ghost pepper into the smallest bits I could for chili. 2 days later and still Getting intermittent burning on the finger tips of my left hand where I held the pepper. I have washed my hands and taken a shower and scrubbed multiple times with soap. I’m able to sleep thankfully, until I put my hand under the blanket or pillow and it gets warm, because then the burn starts to well… burn. I will try more remedies tomorrow
I had the same experience. Did tried whatever I can after battling for 2 hrs, lastly I tried my mom’s remedy. Applied gingerly oil and castor oil. Within 15 mins it subsied. Thank god. It worked for me, give it a try it may work for you all too.?
Wow! I wish I’d heard of this. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I just did this with Carolina reapers, ghost peppers and scorpions, and it had soaked right into my skin. For anyone reading:
DO THE WARM SOAPY WATER AND OIL APPROACH!
It is the ONLY thing that will actually remove it other than time. I tried all the other cold soothing options including lemon and lime juice, ice cream, local anaesthetic etc but nothing worked. Until I found advice from a Dr Peggy Malone who went through hot chilli hands too.
1. Hold your hands under running warm water. As hot as you can bare. It may only feel lukewarm to anyone else but it’ll feel like it’s boiling to you. It is going to really, really hurt but push through! You need to warm the skin to bring the oil out.
Do this for 30 sec.
2. Scrub your hands with warm, very soapy (dish soap) water. I did this in a 3L container and regularly refilled it. I didn’t use a sponge, just my hands, but if you do, throw away the sponge after.
Do this for 30 sec
3. Rub vege/olive oil or whatever other cooking oil you have all over your hands. I ran out of olive oil and even used one infused with truffle.
Do this for 30 sec.
Then repeat.
As many times as you can bare. I did for 20 mins, then a short break and again for another 10.
Id had chili hands for 5 hours before I tried this and the pain wasn’t subsiding at all. It brought the pain down from 8/9 out of 10 to 4/10. I then was able to sleep with and air con fan pointed at my hands. I woke up with no hot hands at all.
If you’re going through this, I know it feels like you’ll die if you put your hands near any heat source, but it’s the only thing that worked. I had the juices of the hottest chili’s on earth soaked into my fingers after tearing them open for 20 minutes bare handed to remove seeds for sowing…. It worked for me and many others it will work for you!
This is good advise – especially the warm water right away. My wife chopped half a bushel of peppers and while it stung a bit while chopping, it wasn’t until she washed her hands in cold water that the pain really started. Intense pain. My wife can take a lot so it was unnerving to see her in such pain. We tried many remedies, but since the only immediate relief she could get was from cold, she kept cooling them which would keep the pores closed and not allow the pepper juice to get out. The other issue we had, I believe, was that we were not trying the remedies for long enough. Finally, we called TeleHealth and the nurse recommended an hour in cooking oil. It actually took an hour and a half – again because I believe the pores were closed tight by us trying to keep her hands cool. So my advise, is to warm your hands as early as you can in the process and as warm as you can and then try the oil or any of the other remedies that have worked for people. I’m certain the reason some work for some people and not for others is because some open the pores with warm and others close their pores with cold. In any case, good luck and give any remedy lot’s of time to work.
Something similar happened to me today. According to the doc it was an allergic reaction to the peppers. It still feels a bit warm, but not “fire ants tickling my veins” hot anymore. My orange chicken will have to go uneaten unfortunately
My mother in law makes salsa with her bare hands, gutting the Serrano and jalapeño peppers and peeling the skin after frying them, turning them with her bare hands. So, tonight I did the same and my fingers are swollen, red, and on fire. My husband thinks I’m fine and ignoring my pain, since his mother does it. She says she has no feeling in her hands from years of cooking like this in Mexico. I am not so strong lol the pain is so bad.
I cut up about a gallon of jalapeno’s last week, wore gloves, but not a mask. When I got down to the bottom of the gallon jug, I could feel that I was inhaling something that was making me very uncomfortable. I got a headache that wouldn’t go away. I became congested and sneezing and coughing, felt very bad for at least 2 days. Even felt short of breath. One week later I feel better, but still have a loose sounding cough. Wear a mask too, next time, not just gloves.
I cut up about a gallon of jalapeno’s last week, wore gloves, but not a mask. When I got down to the bottom of the gallon jug, I could feel that I was inhaling something that was making me very uncomfortable. I got a headache that wouldn’t go away. I became congested and sneezing and coughing, felt very bad for at least 2 days. Even felt short of breath. One week later I feel better, but still have a loose sounding cough. Wear a mask too, next time, not just gloves.
I’m so glad I’ve found this post. I’ve just chopped up chilli’s that says they are a 2 in strength. I’ve been cooking for years and never had a reaction before. Guess what? I have today. I’ve tried all the remedies. I’m a nurse and all that’s currently working is a running cold tap and some painkillers and an antihistamine. I’ll NEVER go ungloved again.
Arnica gel. Works wonders. Just keep rubbing it on. 4-5 coats, pain is gone.
I am dealing with this right now. I cut up sone hungarian hot block peppers, not thinking they were hot…. My first mistake. Second mistake was not wearing gloves.
This is happening to my 16 year old right now. She suffered quietly for 6 hours. Her whimpering and moaning woke me up around 2am. We tried EVERY suggested remedy here. Even ran out at 3 in the morning to buy some Arnica gel. It’s 4 now and she’s finally sleeping. I’m so grateful to this blog post and all of the comments. Praying she has some relief when she wakes up.
Things you learn the hard way.
Why is this not one of the top 3 things culinary media should cover?
24 hours after chopping a variety of hit peppers and I still have hot spots on my hands. I can still taste the spice on my fingers.
I found covering my hands in dry baking soda helped. I had to put ice and water in a plastic cup with a sealed lid and hold it with both hands to get to sleep last night.
At one point I thought about going to the ER as I felt like passing out abd getting sick.
I will never make that mistake again.
I am so grateful to have found this article or I would have thought I was going crazy, I was in the worst pain of my life for 5 hours, in all that time I was stuck in the bathroom running my hands under cool water as it was the only relief I could get, I tried everything to reduce the pain but nothing helped I had to just wait it out and took three paracetamol and wet flannel to bed and eventually fell asleep, I woke up with the pain gone but the sensitivity remains, I’m scared to try and touch hot water of any kind, I will definitely not being touching chilli’s with my bare hands anytime soon, WEAR GLOVES!
Thank you so much for sharing this article. I experienced this last night a few hours after cutting a Scotch bonnet pepper and washing my hands many times. I still apparently had the chemical on my hands because when I washed my face my eyes and makeup started burning and it spread to my lips and cheeks when I tried to wash with water. I rinsed with gin, baking soda+water, and milk but the only thing that worked was soaking milk in a paper towel and leaving it on my face for 30 min. The dried up milk prevented it from continuing to burn. After an hour the heat moved to my hands somehow which experienced intense burning for another 2 hours. I had to soak them in milk which relieved the pain temporarily. I eventually fell asleep with hot hands. 9 hours later my hands are warm and tingly but at least my face isn’t burning. Good luck.
Wait. *Forty times* more potent than a jalapeno?
What do you mean wear gloves? Not wearing gloves is what kept you from *ingesting* those things. Imagine wearing gloves so that you can avoid getting accidentally-acquired insane peppers on your hands… then feeding your children something that just touching sent you to the hospital. Ever have a kid choke on a mouthful of food because it was too hot and they handled the situation with pure fear?
Anyway, this is my random, “I can’t *not* leave a comment on this really old internet story” for the day.
Really. I eat those things for fun. The other day I removed seeds from 6 caraline rippers from my garden ( the hottest chili in the world) with my fingers. My thumbs still have a burning felling . 3 days latter . Everyone has a different tolerance level. I can eat a Caraline rippers. But will safer. Have to drink a ltr of milk after and eat fruit. Wash mounth out with cold water then have cold shower. But will have bost of energy for a few days after eating. Careful but a co worker of mind ended up in hospital as the Chilli can burn your intestines.