HELP... fingers are burning from cutting jalapenos. Remedies?

Question

Hi!

I just chopped some jalapenos today and now my fingertips are burning quite badly. 

Anybody know of any remedies? Looked online but found nothing. Maybe I'm not putting in the right search words.

I'm not sure where to post this message so put in in this board.

Cheers,

gtrekker2003

Answer

no don't do it with the toilet bowl bleach.

try lime juice or if not white vinager will help.

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Capsaicin is alcohol and oil soluble, I think. Haven't tried it, but soaking your fingers in rubbing alcohol or vegetable oil might provide some relief.

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i wish i could help...
during culinary school that happened to me and they were burning for hours and hours with terrible pain! i kept putting my hands in cold cream but i would have to keep replacing the cream with fresh every few minutes. an awful experience i'll never forget.
i hope you found a good solution.

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No remedy, but next time get some cheap, diposable latex gloves--a box of 50 is around $5 at any drugstore. I'm very sensitive to capsaicin, I was uncomfortable for 24 hours after slicing and de-seeding just two jalapeños, so I sympathize.

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Interesting, but this site also says use bleach ... but VERY briefly, don't soak in it.

http://www.soupsong.com/fpepper.html

"diluted 5 parts water to 1 part bleach, and so long as you dip your fingers in from time to time you've got the problem licked. Why? Capsaicin compound is not soluble in water, but chlorine or ammonia turns it into a salt, which IS soluble in water. Please be advised, though, you should never soak your hands in this solution"

In the paragraph above that information, when asked what to do if your mouth is burning, they suggest garling in vodka (don't swallow) as capsaisin is soluable in alcocol. Don't see why that wouldn't work for fingers. Also hydrogen peroxide was mentioned. I wonder if rubbing alcohol would work? 

I had a problem with getting hot stuff in my eye and was told to rub salt in it. It worked, but I could never figure out why. Maybe it has to do with the salt absorbing the capsaicin or some sort of chemical reaction like with the bleach where it transforms the capsaicin into something else.

Interesting stuff on peppers as a bonus on the above link.

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Thanks everybody for the suggestions. This is good to know for future reference. I never had these reactions to jalapeno chillis in the past, not sure why now.

Anyways, I ended up dunking my fingers in vegetable oil and also apple cider vinegar (didn't have white) and there was some relief. Enough so that I could sleep. Woke up a few hours later and the burning was gone.

Learned my lesson!

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For future reference: sour cream was my savior a few weeks ago when I was stemming dried chiles without gloves on (I know, stupid), and then touched my face. Nothing worked well except dabbing sour cream on, and that was almost immediate relief.

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No remedies, but next time coat your hands with some cooking oil.

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This happened to me a few years back and nothing helped. In fact, everything I tried made it worse. I eventually took a few Advil and managed to fall asleep/pass out from the pain.

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What about baking soda? It absorbs things well, maybe the capsaisin too?
Anybody know?

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The same thing happened to me after deseeding some poblanos yesterday evening sans gloves. I didn't think these were particularly hot peppers, but my hands have been burning for more than 24 hours now. I thought the sensation/pain was gone, but after taking a hot shower, the irritation was back with a fury. I did not have rubbing alcohol or bleach on hand, but found swabbing with acetone nail polish remover helped quite a bit.

wowsa, lesson learned. Capsaicin is no joke.

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Something similar happened to me once... my fingers are generally immune to oils from hot peppers (from years of heat abuse), so I'm usually not too careful or overly concerned when handling chiles. One time I was chopping a bunch of fresh serrano chiles and cilantro to throw into a pot of soup because I had a cold. After chopping, I absently wiped my nose, which was raw from all the tissue abrasion over the past days. Oh. My. God. It was the worst pain I'd endured in a long time. I tried to run/splash water over the area but that wasn't helping at all and I was inhaling more than I really wanted to. The only other thing I could think of was to load a Kleenex with Yogurt and shove that up my nose. Well, at least that worked after a minute of agony, but I've got to admit I've never looked (nor felt) so stupid in my life.

So try yogurt next time, I guess that's what I'm saying. :) And avoid the nose area!

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restaurant around here does "hotte than hell night", every few months, and the dishes are just saturated with everything from jalapenos to habaneros. if somebody cries uncle, the antidote is a creamsicle.

something fatty and cold, like sour cream already mentioned above, will do the trick.

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Found out long ago that water does no good at putting out the fire in mouth from hot chiles. But also found that milk (or sour cream, ice cream, yogurt), sugar or honey took care of it pretty dang quick.

I guess if I burned my hands preparing chiles, I'd soak them in milk, at least 2% if not whole.

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Not sure if this was pointed out already, but by the time you're in pain and it's hours later, the damage is done: your skin has a chemical burn just like if you burned it on a stove, so all you can do now is help it heal (assuming you've washed thoroughly so the burning agent is no longer on your skin).

As everyone mentioned, be sure to protect your hands next time.

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Stay away from bleach or alcohol. Your dealing with chemical burn and playing with other chemicals isn't wise. Wood alcohol also can be absorbed through already inflamed skin leading to all kinds of toxic possibilites. One of which one is blindness.

Perhaps without commenting any further you should consult a doctor and maybe you require a script for some burn cream.

_____

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I keep a bottle of hand sanitizer, which is mostly alcohol, next to the sink and apply it liberally to my hands, especially my finger tips, immediately after chopping jalapenos. Then I wash my hands with soap and water. This works well for me. But note this is to prevent a burn, but is not appropriate to cure a burn.

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Ah, yes, did something similar with 3 habaneros a few months ago. Like wearing extra extra extra strength ben gay or tiger balm.

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I've heard that sugar helps, but I always use gloves--one bad experience was enough for me!

How do those cooks on TV chop chiles with no gloves and no consequences?

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Thanks to everyone for the info. I've been handling chiles for years and thought I was immune. NOT! Burned my hands to the max last night and though the pain had diminished somewhat overnight, it flared back up with a vengeance while wearing rubber gloves today at work. Have been soaking my hands in whole milk on and off for an hour or so now and it really seems to be helping! I will never again be so foolish as to not wear gloves. Totally preventable suffering! Why would this happen how when I've been doing it for years without consequence?

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This might sound crazy but the only remedy that worked for me was MUD.
My husband brought in a pail of dirt and added cold water to create a paste.
He covered my entire hand in the MUD, which was cool and helped the hot sting.
I kept the mud pack on for an hour, rinsed it off and was able to tolerate the remaining but much less intense burning feeling. By the following day it was gone.

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I cannot believe that nobody has offered the one best suggestion: RUBBER GLOVES. They are cheap, they are easy to use, they turn your hands into invulnerable, invincible Power Talons. With rubber gloves on, you can peel a freshly boiled potato, scrape the skin off of a beet freshly out of the oven, hold down chiles while cutting them into tiny slivers. Something under four bucks will get you a two-pack of yellow Playtex gloves with a cotton lining, not so thick as to be clumsy, but thick enough and comfortable enough to keep your fingers up out of the truly rough stuff.

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I am SOOOOOOOO thankful I found this tonight! I was cutting up jalipenos tonight to go with dinner and just pulling them out of the jar bare handed(i've done this part before) and an hour later my fingures where burning like crazy!!! I've never had that happen before....I made a comment to my hubby about soaking them in milk and he thought I was crazy! The sour cream works better than I would imagine the milk would have......a little messy and hard to type one handed but NO MORE PAIN!!!!!! Thanks to everyone who posted on here

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Put your fingers in yogurt....and by all means do not touch any other parts of your body....and if you go to the bathroom be especially careful.....

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mayonaise

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The best bet is to get the disposable latex/or rubber gloves that they use in medical offices since they aren't as awkward as the cleaning type. I learned the hard way. I didn't really feel the burn on my hands, but later on when I took out my contact lenses I was in pain...

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wow, i did the same thing yesterday and found all these replies, but I think I have found the ultimate savior! It's called "Bactine"...it's a burn spray. You may need to reapply for a couple of hours, but it was INSTANT relief. It was the best thing ever...hope this helps! Happy hot peppering!

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I use the Aloe Vera Gel with Aloe Vera and Lidocaine..mainly for sunburns.
I am such a jalapeno/serrano freak and for me..it works wonders!

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I did this tonight mincing jalapenos! CRAZY burning sensation...read all the posts and was about to go get milk and/or sour cream...but instead poured "half & half! GONE! Cured it in an instant! Don't wash it off!

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I usually can slice jalapenos without using gloves. I am careful not to touch my eyes after I do so. Not today. I just sliced 6 jalapenos that set my hands on fire. I used cold water and ice cold milk with no relief. I had just purchased some sour cream yesterday so after reading some of the posts here I figured that was the least chemically invasive way to stop the burn. I slathered the sour cream like cold creme, well actually it even looked that way. It was immediate relief. Just don't stick your hands back in water for awhile or they will start to burn again, I had to retreat again because I did. .I put some plastic gloves I had on top of that for a little while. Next time I will use the gloves I already had. Thanks for the tip for pain relief. I was making Campechana and used the fresh jalapenos in the recipe for flavor. Wow, were they hot!

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I have the answer for you all. I tried all of your suggestions, but was still in agony. I found another site where someone had called poison control for this problem. The answer was running your hands under as warm/hot water as you could stand. This will open up your pores and cause them to expel the jalapeno oil.

I tried a million things tonight, and this one finally worked. It was VERY uncomfortable to use the remedy...but it beats burning skin all night long!

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This is from Wikipedia:

Treatment after exposure
The primary treatment is removal from exposure. Contaminated clothing should be removed and placed in airtight bags to prevent secondary exposure. Capsaicin could be washed off the skin using soap, shampoo, or other detergents, or rubbed off with oily compounds such as vegetable oil, paraffin oil, petroleum jelly (Vaseline), creams, or polyethylene glycol. Plain water, as well as home remedies such as vinegar, bleach, sodium metabisulfite, or topical antacid suspensions are ineffective in removing capsaicin.

Burning and pain symptoms can be effectively relieved by cooling, e.g., from ice, cold water, cold bottles, cold surfaces, or a flow of air from wind or a fan. In severe cases, eye burn might be treated symptomatically with topical ophthalmic anesthetics; mucous membrane burn with lidocaine gel. Capsaicin-induced asthma might be treated with nebulized bronchodilators or oral antihistamines or corticosteroids.[24]

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tomatoes, slice up a tomato and rub your fingers and hands with this. 

I wear contact lens and found out the hard way I still had habanero, jalapeno and ortega chili stuff embed in my fingers. I remember a friend telling me about this and it worked. In a pinch I've also used canned whole tomatoes

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I chopped some peppers today and then took the edge of the knife to scrape the seeds off of my fingers. Big Mistake!!!!!!!!! About an hour later my left hand was on fire. I had to sit with it wrap in a freezer pack. Then my friend called to ask me something, and I in turn asked her if she knew of anything to get rid of this burning. She said to use ammonia. Did not have any of course, but did have one of those insect bite sticks which has ammonia in it. Rubbed it all over fingers and in between. What a difference. Burning is totally gone. Had to do it twice, but it did the trick. I'm telling you I was almost in tears.

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Interesting post! I generally consider myself to have extremely sensitive skin (if I rub myself even lightly, my skin is red for quite some time afterwards), but I don't have much problems with chillies. I regularly chop Thai chillies with my bare hands and while there is some burning, I never found it particularly distressing, and not enough to bother wearing gloves during the process. Now, the one time I chopped chillies and some time later tried to take out contact lenses was horrific! That's a lesson that only took once to learn.

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I've never had my hands burn after handling peppers until tonight. I chopped one very, very mild jalapeno. Two hours later, after cooking, eating and hand washing the dishes the palm side of my fingers and cuticles started burning and throbbing. A short soak in yogurt has diminished it a bit. 

I'm glad I remembered seeing this thread!

It seems like the dish washing opened the pores and let the oil work into my skin. My fingers had been fine until then...

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My instructor recommended salt. I was too lazy to go and get some to try though but if anyone do, I'm interested to know!

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I just thought the rules of common sense didn't apply to me, tonight, when I was chopping jalapenos for ceviche. I KNOW I'm supposed to wear gloves, but I didn't have any...besides..I washed my hands before I scratched my EYE!!!
.....yeah, uh huh.....
I instinctively grabbed the milk jug, doused a towel and threw it on my eye. While I screamed and swore, my husband "googled' a remedy and found this site!!
Within a couple of minutes, the worst of the burn was gone!! The milk REALLY worked!!! Thanks for the affirmation.
...and I WILL have gloves, next time!!

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I was cutting a jalepeno last night and noticed it was unusually juicy. It actually sprayed a little while I was cutting it. Within 10 mins my fingers were on fire. I tried washing them with dishsoap, but that only made it worse. I soaked them in white vinegar, but the relief was temporary. I then tried milk, baking soda, bleach, and rubbing alchohol. All of which only provided relief for about a minute. Company arrived then so I got thru the night by soaking my fingers in a ice water bath. It felt good while my fingers were in it, but definitely made the pain worse once I took my hand out. A guest suggested aloe, but that didn't work, another said honey, which, you guessed it, didn't work. By midnight everyone had gone home and I was getting desperate to get some relief so I could go to sleep. Sadly sleep is difficult to come by when your hand is ON FIRE. 
I tried a rubbing sour cream on my hand which did work well until it dried on my hand and then the relief was over. I finally in desperation tried the thing I had been avoiding all night. I peed on my hand. That's right folks, I PEED on my hand. The relief was instant. I let the urine sit on my hand for about a minute and then I washed my hands really, really well. I was afraid after I washed them that the pain would come back but it never did. I slept fine all night and woke up this morning with no pain at all.

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I've never had an issue with this until tonight and what started it was the fact the chilies were hot from being blanched. Two hours after handling them I though my finger were going to start shooting flames. I washed right after handling them but the hot temp of the chilies had opened my pours and let in the capsicum. My boyfriend suggested soaking them in milk but that just relieved the pain while my hand was in it. So I went to the internet and found this site. I tried vinegar first since I use vinegar for so many other things around the house (I use it to mop my floors even). Very mild relief that lasted maybe ten minutes. Next up sour cream it worked as long as it was cold from the fridge as soon as it warmed up the relief was gone. Now that wouldn't be so bad except I am eight months pregnant with twins and run a 102 degree temp right now. I heated the sour cream up in about two minutes. Out of sheer desperation at this point, especially since my boyfriend was ready to run me to the E.R., I tried the most uncomfortable sounding remedy on this list. WASHING IN HOT HOT HOT WATER. I also used Neutrogena no residue shampoo for the soap. This was no a 100% no more pain but over all my hand feels pretty OK now. Yes, it hurt like hell during the washing and I thought I might have scalded myself but the pain is almost gone. I plan on buying a pair of rubber gloves this next shopping trip and labeling them from just work with spicy food from now on. The really funny thing is that the peppers were not even the littlest spicy when we at them.

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Verging on TMI here, but this happened to me once as well and I severely compounded the problem by using the bathroom while my fingers were still affected by the capsaicin. Mistake...

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SOUR CREAM! Worked like a charm! I didn't have vegetable oil handy so I tried sour cream--- it felt so good and relieved the pain! I had stemmed and seeded 3 different kinds of peppers, including jalapenos, then rubbed my nose... it was on FIRE. Imagine your face with sour cream on your nose... but I didn't care!

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That is easy - dunk them in dairy so milk or yogurt (real plain yogurt). Capsaicin does not like dairy. Drink milk for your tongue and soak your fingers in it. Works for me.

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I had THE WORST burns ever! I had blisters on my fingers from canning habeneros and cherry peppers. Yes, I did use gloves, but they were paper thin. I tryed milk, yogurt, sour cream, vegetable oil, lime juice, rubbing alcohol, caladryl, baking soda and vinegar. Vegetable oil worked for maybe a half hour......but the only thing that saved me was baking soda and caladryl ( the stuff you use for poison Ivy) I remember that my mother used baking soda for bee stings, mix baking soda with a little bit of water and make into a paste, place on the burn and let it harden. Then pour caladryl over it, wraped with gauze. (It is messy) I left it on over night. It worked within minutes! If you don't have caladryl just use the baking soda thing...you should have some relief, for a few hours anyway.

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my hands were both completely on fire. I tried every type of handwashing imaginable, from soap and water, to rinsing in bleach, to coating with yogurt, etc., nothing helped. Finally, realizing that the oils were already too deep in the skin to be washed off, I tried Benadryl. I took 3 capsules, kept my hands in cool water as I waited for the medicine to take affect. and witin the hour, it was finally gone. The Benadryl helped me sleep and I have been burn free for the past 48 hours. You can still see the red streaks of burn inside my palms, but the pain is gone!! whew!!

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1. Wash your hands thoroughly. You may want to rub them on a large piece of lemon, whcih is very effective in detaching food remnants.
2. Dry hands thoroughly.
3. Pour medicated powder all over hands and rub. Medicated powder is the most instantly effective product against itch and irritation that i know of.

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Hi, 

This question of yours really helped. I not only burnt my fingers but later went went to toilet and peed...now my private part was burning. i dont drink alcohol and so there was some wine that was gifted which i opened and poured it over my fingers and my private parts ...
so much relief...

thanks

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I JUST did this but I had washed my hands, no problems, then touched my nose thinking i was in the clear. WRONG. My nose hurts soooo bad right now. I keep on putting on cream and yogurt (it's the closest I have to sour cream!) and it helps a little but not for long. I am going to try lime next. The fact that it's on my nose makes the whole bleach thing a little more complicated.....

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Oh my god! I thought I was crazy before I read this but I'm obviously not the only one. I'm glad I found this. Of course on Cinco de Mayo I decided to cook stuffed jalapeno peppers around 9pm. To deseed them I just used a knife to cut out the seeds. I held the jalapeno in my left hand and the knife in my right. A few times while I cut out the out the center, I sliced through the jalapeno and the juice of the pepper dripped on my hand. I had chopped jalapenos before, so I didn't even think they were that hot, much less did I stop to think to wash my hands. I cooked the peppers then took them out. I had intended on eating 2 stuffed jalapenos but I could only suffer through 1. I was shocked at how hot these were. After I drank some water to soothe my mouth, I fell asleep around 11pm. And around midnight I woke up in bed feeling this burning, tingling in my hand. I thought I slept on it and it fell asleep so I just started to open and close my hand to wake it up and I waited for the burning sensation to transform into the pins and needles feeling that happens when your limb is waking up. NOTHING. After the burning didn't go away I started to panic, thinking, "my hand is on FIRE and there is no actual fire!" I thought, "is my hand burning from eating a jalapeno?" then I thought "no! it's from cutting the jalapeno!" I reached for my phone and google searched this exact post. As soon as I read "lime juice", I thought, "That's it!" I jumped up and ran to the kitchen, flew open the refrigerator and whipped out my bag of limes. I dumped the limes out of the bag on to the counter, ripped out a knife and sliced one of the limes in half. I immediately started to scrub half the lime on my hand. I got so scared, I scrubbed harder and harder, then I squeezed really hard on the lemon and poured the juice on my hand. The burning was gone like a miracle! So then I turned the water on so that I could "wash off" all of the pepper residue, stupidly washing off the lime juice. I strutted back to bed, like "well, that could have been bad", I pulled the covers over me and finally started to slip back into a coma. Not even 30 seconds later, I popped open my eyes and grabbed my phone again to read this thread. My hand was on fire 10x more than before I did the lime. Thank God there are 91 replies to this, because by the time I had finished reading everything looking for relief, the pain had gone away. So needless to say, if nothing else works, just read all of these replies! 12 hours later there is still a tiny burning sensation in my palm but it is no where near as bad as last night. I hope this capsaicin chemical didn't do any damage to my poor little hand :(

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Get one of those sticks that you use for insect bites. It smells like it has ammonia in it. The one I have is called AFTER BITE. Apply it to all fingers really good. Burning will stop instantly. I did this once and was actually in tears from the burning. I was trying everything and finally tried this. Couldn't believe how quickly it worked. Good Luck. 
I just read the post about the woman who peed on her hands and got relief. Urine also has ammonia in it, so I guess it would be safe to say that ammonia is the key.

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Wow so many replies, interesting suggestions milk, sour cream, lime, rubbing alcohol and hmm urine. What still works best for me after slicing chiles is cutting a tomato and rubbing the tomato on my hands and fingers. It's worked for me as I've need my fingers to remove my contact lens, no more burning etc.

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TRY PEPPERMINT EXTRACT. I just made the same mistake and am glad to find this post. I tried some of the advised remedies such as rubbing alcohol and bleach. They helped to a certain degree but my fingers began to burn again so I had to put aloe vera on every few minutes. Fortunately, I remembered accidentally getting peppermint extract on my hands and how it felt extremely cool and soothing. So I put about a tbsp of peppermint on my fingers and hands and rubbed it all around before it evaporated. (this also has alcohol in it which may help) 
After doing this, some parts of my hands like in-between my fingers and my nails were still burning so I added a little more. Now my hands are not burning at all. I cannot believe it. Anyway, I'm not sure if Peppermint would have worked this well had I not done the alcohol and bleach. I think that may have cut down the burning, but the peppermint has completely eliminated it. Hope this helps for anyone else looking for a solution to this very painful problem. I'll be using gloves next time :)

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I cut about 20 jalapenos and scraped all the seeds to save. I stuffed them with cheese and wrapped bacon around them. Within minute the tops of my fingers were on fire. I put beer, Then orange juice then milk and Aloe and hydrocortisone and then resorted to my hands in a bowl with ice. Finally I peed on my hands. Instant relief..

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OMG thank you for all the responses. I have peeled many a green chili, but I did some jalapenos today.... I tried so many of the suggestions, what worked is running hot water over my hands till I was crying, then poured amonia on my hands. I now think I might be able to go to bed and sleep.... I still have some slight burning in between my fingers, but I think I will be able to survive! My first mistake on this and it will never happen again! I signed up on this web site just to thank everyone for their ideas and suggestions. I am not sure what I would have done without all the help. Happy cooking!

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Ive tried everything every one has said i mean everything and nothing has helped. And right now im about to seriously just cry of how bad the pain is. I feel like my hand is fire!!!! I was making a pico de gallo with serrano peppers like 7my hrs ago and the pain had gone away but it came back and now i dont know what to do.

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I'm nmot sure of a remedy but DON'T; I repeat, DON"T attempt to urinate until the problem is solved.

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Bacon fat. My BFF burned her hands making chili; we found this thread and tried cold water, hot water, olive oil. . . Nothing. Then she started pulling bacon apart, and asked me to let you all know that she has finally found relief.

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I've only cut up jalapeno peppers once before. My fingers burned slightly for a short time, it was mostly annoying. This evening is a whole different story! The burn started slow and consistently increased. At one point I thought I may have to go to hospital. My husband and I jumped on our computers and found this sight. Lots of good (and tried) remedies. But what worked for me was the most unlikely. My husband was on his way to pharmacy to pick up some recommended medicine when I found a few honorable mentions about TOMATOES. I was game. I put a sliced tomato in a bowl and started massaging my hand with them. Instant, I mean instant, relief. I was dumbfounded. HOME REMEDIES ARE THE BEST. It has been 2 hours since I first started this. There is still a little burn and I've gone through 1 1/2 tomatoes but nothing else helped. Everything else increased the pain. Everyone is different so if you find yourself in this same situation (and if you are reading this then you have) try everything until you find the one that fits you!

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LIME JUICE!!!!! I cut 6 jalapenos (first time cutting hot peppers) in half and made poppers, two fingers on one hand started burning like hot oil, I figured that was what it was and did butter and ice it gave some relief but not much. Then under my fingernail started to burn and I realized it was the peppers, I tried oil, cold water, milk, cream, sour cream,fresh lemon, and even the hot water thing, and scrubbed with soap a million times. Nothing worked. Finally i found a bottle of lime juice and BAM instant relief and had to put a little more on one spot about a half hour later. Thank you everyone! I will use gloves next time!

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Had this happen to me for the first time today. Three jalapeño peppers and my fingers/hands were burning for six hours (starting about an hour after I finished mincing). I usually wear disposable gloves but didn't have any in the house. After a lot of reading online, I saw a post regarding Vaseline having given fairly instant relief ... I tried Aquaphor and it worked great! In less than ten minutes the burning sensation diminished significantly and it continued to abate further after that.

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Sugar worked really well for me. I mixed sugar and vegetable oil in a bowl, until it was like a sugar scrub. Then I spend like 15-20 minutes just rubbing my hand through that. I don't know if it was the sugar, the oil, or the exfoliation that worked, but it worked perfectly. Beforehand my hand was burning so badly that I couldn't stop shaking it, and that completely took it away. I even worked a bunch of sugar under my nails, and that stopped the burning there. My fingers were also super smooth afterwards, as a plus. 

All of the liquid solutions didn't work on me. It is like 100 degrees in my apartment right now, and I feel like that have made a difference - all the liquids in my house were pretty warm/hot.

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I keep telling everyone I know that the quickest way to stop the burning is to use one of the many bug bite sticks that have ammonia in them are the best. I used one called AfterBite, and just rubbed it up and down each finger and the rest of my hand. Within seconds it stopped burning.

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Hi! I cored and deseeded jalapeños last night without gloves and tried every remedy I could find online. The milk soothed as long as my hands were soaking and the alcohol worked as long as it was still wet and drying on my hands. My mother_in_law suggested rubbing Mylanta onto them. It worked like a charm! I just washed them in warm water, dried them and rubbed the antacid in like it was lotion and let it dry. I felt I should share after such an unbelieveably painful experience in the hopes that it might be helpful to the next person searching for relief. Hope it helps.

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I had a major case of Hunan hand last year. I cut up jalapenos, serranos, habaneros, etc. all the time, never wear gloves, and never have a problem unless I touch my eyes. I just make sure to wash my hands well and avoid touching my eyes for a couple hours, but my hands don't ever burn. But last year I had about 60 bhut jolokias and probably another 60 or so of various habanero or hotter peppers to process (cut off stem, deseed, and cut in half to dry in the dehydrator). My first thought was that I should definitely put on some gloves for that kind of volume, but I looked and didn't have any. I really didn't feel like driving to the store, so I decided to just try to avoid touching the inside of the peppers, not touch my face, and then wash my hands well.

I processed them all, washed my hands, and sat down to watch some TV. At this point there was a slight burning sensation but nothing major. And then it started to build, and build, and build over about 30 minutes. At this point it became excruciating, like my hand was literally in a fire. I tried everything...washing, vinegar, bleach, lime juice, sugar, honey, milk, even crushing up benadryl and aspirin and rubbing them all over my hands, nothing helped for very long. Finally, I got a bowl of ice water and submerged my hand in it. I would pull it out for about 5 seconds before the pain came completely back, then put it back in. The pain would also return if I just left my hand in the water, I had to pull it out and re submerge it over and over and add ice every 45 minutes or so This went on for about 8 hours and now it was time for bed, but there's no way I could fall asleep with my hand throbbing like this and having to pull my hand out of the water and put it back in every 30 seconds. So I took some sleeping pills and some benadryl. Finally, I somehow managed to fall asleep, and when I woke up the next day my hand was back to normal.

Moral of the story is...wear gloves. :o

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My 12 yr old son grew Cayenne peppers as a science fair project-got an 'A'. We just went out to look at them, one was getting wrinkled/ old so he picked it, opened it, took out the seeds, put them back in the soil.
Needless to say, he starts yelling that his eyelids are on fire, as well as his nose and forehead. I googled this, found this post! 
Thank you all for the posts. Tried vaseline, then sour cream, the Afterbite stick, then lemon juice. Not sure if it was the juice, or if by then all the above mentioned remedies had taken off some of the cayenne oil. I did have him put his head way back so the juice did not run into his eyes as the Afterbite liquid got in his eyes and really hurt he said. Now, He says, Thanks Mom!! He says it is completely gone, hooray!! 
I did caution him not to go to the bathroom any time soon! 
I also advised him to tell anyone he gives his peppers to, to WEAR gloves!! Thanks again, you are a lifesaver!!

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I had always used disposable gloves when handling peppers in the past, but I was in a hurry this time. Won't do that again. Ouch!! Alcohol worked for me but still had some burning hours later. I dug out the gloves after the fact to keep from contaminating other parts of my body (bathroom). I'm guessing a snug fitting disposable glove could be used when taking out contact lenses too. Anyone try that?

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So I know it's been a LONG time since this was originally posted, I found it via Google search. I wanted to say that I poured rubbing alcohol on my burning hand, the slathered some sour cream on it and it feels awesome! Thanks, internet!

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Chopped a jalapeno today and OMG the burn! I tried everything each of y'all suggested except the urine. Ugh! I even tried zinc oxide for burns and prep-H. Lastly, I halved a tomato and got a bit of relief, but back the pain came. I decided to go for the urine when my hubby suggested katsup. MAGIC!!! Soaked my fingers about 15 minutes. Cured,after hours of agony. Now off to purchase rubber gloves.

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I finally found a solution after an hour's plus ordeal with the chilli burn. Thanks to this website and others, I found many suggested remedies that I immediately tried out of desperation. Unfortunately, the ones that I tried didn't worked for me.

I started soaking my hands with milk, then alcohol, then white vinegar, then baking soda with water. I even tried soaking it in whisky but nothing. No Vaseline or sour cream at home either.

THEN I found a lemon in the fridge. Squeezed the juice by hand into a mug and took turns to soak each hand in it for about 15 mins. This seemed to have helped a little, but hands were still stinging.
I decided to try the baking soda again, this time pouring it straight onto each palm, then dipping it straight into the lemon juice such that it created some form of effervescence. Soak soak soak.

It worked like a charm! I did it repeatedly just to make sure I got every tinge of burning, and I have to say I'm now 99% better. 

Perhaps it was a combination of all of the above that I had tried or maybe it was just the last attempt (the effervescence) that worked. I'm just glad I'm rid of that horrible fire burning sensation and I hope this helps someone. ;)

I would think other than lemon, the combination of baking soda and vinegar or lime would work as well.

Good luck!

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One time I cut jalapeños for a stuffed appetizer. I was not wearing gloves and didn't realize the juices and oils were still on my hands. About four hours later, after I had probably washed my hands 20 times, I took out my contacts-- it was horrible! I finally just used some eye makeup remover to try and get it off my eyes- worked like a charm. Then, I took not even a hot shower, just warm. My hands were burning like none other. 
Rubbing alcohol does work for instant, temporary relief. Fatty dairy products work very well too. Just make sure that you try to keep away from warm water-- it's best if you do these things just after cutting jalapeños, for some preventative action. Or better yet, just remember gloves!!! Looking dorky may just save you a lot of pain in a few hours!

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I was cutting bell peppers and absently minded grabbed the jalapenos and began cutting them. After the 3rd one, my fingers began burning. I immediately stopped and scrubbed my hands with Softsoap Kitchen soap which is citrus based and rinsed with really hot water. 90% of the burning is gone. It still burns a little(2 out of 10) under my thumb nail. I'll definitely remember to be more mindful of what I'm chopping next time and put the gloves on!

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I tried washing, milk and aloe. Ketchup finally worked for me too. I slathered it on like lotion and just let it sit. It took a couple of applications but it's feeling a lot better.

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LIME JUICE worked great for me! Thanks Jessica (May 3, 2012 entry) for the suggestion!! Yesterday was my second time cutting jalapenos. The first time there were no issues, but this time within a half-hour of touching the oil, my finger tips felt hot. The sensation gradually increased. Within 2-hours I couldn’t handle it any more: they felt like they were on fire and the fire was getting hotter. I panicked a little, but then thought someone else must have had this happen and will know what works. I googled ‘jalapeno juice on skin, ‘ and here I am. I read several entries and decided to go with the lime juice idea. At first I just squeezed the lime juice onto my fingers, but then slathered the remnants of the slice all over my finger tips to make sure I got all the exposed surfaces. After letting it dry there was still a bit of heat left. About 10-15 minutes later I repeated the process and after that…VOILA…HEAT GONE! Thank you so much for all your suggestions!

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First-timer here, did the dumbest thing ever...cleaned about 20 jalapenos with no gloves -- argghh, what was I thinking? Guess I didn't think, lol!

Anyway, I tried just about everything, starting with milk, yogurt, tomato, ketchup, vinegar, sugar/oil, salt, lemon, lime, baking soda, bleach, alcohol, calamine/baking soda paste, Burnjel, real Aloe, Benadryl gel, Bactine, mint extract, hot water, and even tried Desitin and Boudreaux's Butt paste for babies, AND even peeing on my hand did NOT help! NOTHING AT ALL MADE IT LESS, only softened the pain a tiny bit for a few seconds. Mine didn't start burning until an hour after cleaning them, and then it lasted over 5 hours. I really got frustrated a couple times and just cried, thinking it would NEVER end. The only thing that gave me relief was ice water. I took some Children's Benadryl and then when I went to bed with a Ziploc bag full of ice between some towels. I took a pain pill at that point, and thankfully when I woke up during the night, the burning was gone. Thank you, Lord! An experience I NEVER want to occur again, and I will be wearing gloves. I was afraid to touch the bowl the peppers were in to put them in a Ziploc after that, lol! 

P.S. Running under regular water felt like it was scalding ALL the time. So when I tried the hot water, it was totally unbearable! Yikes!

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dip in ice water until your hands are numb then rub with white distilled vinegar

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I canned tomatoes this afternoon & decided to get jiggy w/it & make rotel on my last batch. My fingers were already wrinkled from all the washing, sterilizing the jars & lids, & peeling the hot tomatoes. I cut & de-seeded 4 jalapenos. While I was cutting, some juice squirted into my eye & I had enough sense to immediately flush w/water. No problem. I also knew not to touch my face. The problem started when about halfway stuffing the peppers on top of tomatoes in my full jars that my fingers started burning. Of course, I washed them. No help. I was almost through, so I keep going (adding more capsicum apparently.) My hands were already porus, so I suppose nothing can get this burning oil out of my fingers. I've read about 100 replies here, getting up alternately to try a new remedy to no relief. First I tried oil. Next was jewel-weed tincture w/apple cider vinegar. Next I tried soaking in a bowl of lemon juice. I added buttermilk. It made an impressive 'volcano' when I added baking soda. I read several more remedies thinking it quite repulsive & beneath me, if not just an outright joke, about the urine. Desperate as I am, I finally tried it after a raw tomato rub & the super hot water as long as you can stand. The pee was the most relief out of them all, but I am still burning. I've chickened out & awakened dear husband to beg for his LAST Loritab & I've had 5 drug free home births. (I did leave him half as I'm not a drug user AT ALL, so I'm thinking a half should be pretty potent for me. Now, finally, as I wind up my long winded post, my pain is subsiding a bit & hopefully I will pass out soon!

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vaseline! after trying pretty much everything (soaking hands in epsom salts also helped), this was the only thing that gave permanent relief

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I know it sounds weird, but I sucked on my fingertips for a while and it at least reduced the pain. It's at least an option if you don't have Vaseline. Just have water and crackers handy because your mouth will get hot!

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Shampoo worked for me after I cut jalapenos. After a couple of hours of the burning and trying dish soap, cold water, oil and pickles juice i didn't try bleach or vinegar didn't want to dry my hands out that bad I looked up just jalapeno and went to wiki for it and did the link for capaician and saw under treatment is said shampoo so I tried it and vola the burning wasn't as bad any more I washed them in the shampoo on more time about 10 mins later just to make sure and no burning anymore. YAY!!!! I learned my lesson Gloves when cutting peppers.

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I've seen this thread for years and this is the first time I have responded. (And I have not even read the thread.)

My experience is what not to do. Several years ago I was canning salsa and was chopping jalapenos my SIL grew. They were quite hot. I seeded and finely diced them, without gloves. I did not think I had enough jalapenos and decided to go get more. I went the the bathroom and then I drove up the road to the Saturday Farmers' Market, about ten minutes away.

 About five minutes from home, I had this burning sensation from my nether regions. Does anyone have a remedy for this problem? (In my case, the remedy was only time, the cold shower was of little comfort.)

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Rinse your hands for a full minute or so in pure hydrogen peroxide. Bubbles the hot stuff off.

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my girlfriend was pickling hungarian hotwax peppers... or something... holy shit... she's really tripping... pain actually seems to be getting more intense... tried everything... tomatoes, yogurt, shampoo... even the urine... no relief!

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Put yellow mustard on your hands I know it sounds weird but it works.

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JUST REMEMBER NEXT TIME TO TAKE YOUR CONTACT LENSES OFF FIRST!
Yes, I was shouting, To get your attention.

Been there, done that, before the single-use contacts. Try soaking your lenses in peroxide for a while, and then saline, and then something like BioTrue, which is really moisturizing after the purging. But I don't know if it will work. Chile hotness is pretty awful when it comes to contact lenses. I've learned to take them off before i mess around with hot chiles, period.

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This is abased on things I have been told about capcaicin in the mouth, not on the hands. Try rubbing your hands with sugar.

Also, sacrifice a half gallon of ice cream and stick your hands in there.

It sounds silly, but it ought to work.

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All the suggestions that I red on this forum did not work on my fingers. I also cut a lot of chilies last night and feel like my fingertips are burning. What I did was, I just feel the pain for about 8 hours until it's gone. (take it as a man)

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We were cooking some chicken, and I asked my friend to dice a chilly. It was a Thai red chilli...and what we didn't know about them is...they are HOT! Being a lover of precision and detail...he cut the chilly finely, taking time to pick out the seeds. In about fifteen minutes, he started to pace up and down the house...in what seemed like quiet desperation. After taking it like a man for another half hour, he finally decided to admit to the unbearable pain. We started with some tooth paste...which gave relief temporarily..i.e..only while washing it off with water. And then after googling for remedies, we tried Vaseline..din't help...now desperate...we went back to the toothpaste...and meanhwile read that cold milk can help...so he dipped his hands into a bowl of cold milk with the toothpaste still on. The milk did little more than making him believe he was getting frost bite :) 

Olive oil was next. It only made his hand smell a bit funny. 

We then tried Tomatoes. He sliced a tomato and mashed it wit his fingers. After fifteen minutes of this futile activity, he gave up and started to pace the house again. 

This seemed to help. After a while, his legs hurt so much that it sort of balanced out the burning. 

Conclusion: TIME is the only solution. Give it about 3-4 hours, the pain should subside.

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Suck your fingers for awhile ...they taste good and no longer burn.

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Mix vegetable oil and sugar together scrub your hands in it and rinse off in cold water and repeat. It works wonders I did it 4 times and now I have very little burning.

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I tried EVERY item listed in ALL the replies , came down to URINE last resort and IT WORKED!!! every other item helped only while it was on or when my hands were soaking in it when removed my hands when back on fire.They were on FIRE for 9 hrs from cutting and filling jars with Jalapenos. I could not take it any longer... yes I went on my hand! I only did one hand first to see if it would really make a difference and it did I was sorry i didn't do both hands at once! Ps. only use your own URINE ( my babies didn't work ) lol

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We read these reports and tried the lime juice. 10 minutes in and things are better.

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C'mon Peoples..it fun, is it...I know it hard on you. But im be doing every years and doesnt bother me... 2 - 4 baskets appox. 5 dozens per basket of jalapeno, 1 - 2 baskets hot banana pepper and maybe less a pound of jamacia pepper, carolina reaper pepper and bhut jkokia (ghost pepper). these are 3 hotter pepper in the world..it hard to get these carolina & ghost pepper..is danger hotter your skin...it take 4-5 to go away..my friend got for me a bags from his country..so any way..i cut all up and mix them up...and cook streamer for 2 minutes and cool down and put in deep freezer...when i use 1 - 2 cups in freezing bags...my eyes was sore streamer and burn your nose...i had open all windows to get smell out..lol when i use a bag for cook spaghetti sauce or hot chilli in winter...most peoples love it suicide hot pepper favor. also i do chichen wings too....i couldnt belive most peoples is sweating..lol..sometime i use lemon or lime juice add with baking soda cream...for lips and hands...oh please do not rubbing your eye lids..it is painful..try use rubber gloves be safe...happy jalapeno!!!

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Only sugar saved my day. I tried everything but sugar is the best. Wet you hands and rub some sugar. For about 3 minutes to 5 or until the burning sensation was over. Its like a miracle!! It probably exfoliate the capsacin juices from my hand that causes the burning reaction. Now I have smooth hands. Thanks Guys!

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I tried everything on the list, I mean everything. My hands were swelling and I barely got my ring off when I realized what was happening. That would have been bad. Ice water actually made it worse because when my hands got back to room temperature they burned even worse; frostburn maybe. Cool water is best then hold them above your head to reduce swelling.

The hot water brought me to tears, and afterwards felt better because I was in such agony from the hot water, but not an improvement from before; I don't recommend it. The bleach water helped about 25% better after soaking for one or two minutes. 

My sister recomended plain mustard, I already tried the ketchup, so why not the mustard? It improved about 50%. There was still some burning in the morning but only about 10% of the pain. I think the other remedies may work if you do it right away, but if you wait 5-10 minutes while you read through all these messages, it will get too bad to help. Cool water first.

Moral: keep the gloves on even if they are too big and keep falling off; use hair bands on your wrists. Never ever clean chiles with bare hands again.

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The worst mistake I've made with this is not wearing gloves and then taking out my contact lenses a few hours later. Burning pain.

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Hate to reply to a question with another question but: 

Are the super-cheap clear plastic disposable food-handler gloves you see on everybody in fast-food places good enough to protect your hands when you are handling hot chili peppers? 

Or should I spend more money and buy the more substantial looking rubbery disposable gloves used in hospitals?

I've been doing the expedient thing, handling chilis with hands stuck into flimsy clear plastic sandwich bags, but that's pretty awkward.

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I have come out of hospital after having severe burns to my hands from cutting finger chilli's. I've had 5 babies and would rather have been in labour for more than a month than this pain. My husband had to fill a bucket of water for me to be able to get the A&E. Once there I was seen immediately (my cries of pain probably helped there) I was given a load of meds - Tramodol, Cocodomol 30/500 Piriton, Diazepam, IBuprofen and something else, can't remember what. My hands stayed under cold running water for 12 hours before they applied 10 tubes of numbing cream in both hands then cling filmed up. It went on for another 8 hours and is improving but now I can't feel sensation properly with both hands. That will never happen again, as I will never eat a chilli again or cut one up.

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This is a really OLD thread, but this might help someone in the future. It's the oils that you need to get rid of. Pour some vegetable oil or mineral oil on your hands, work it in well, including under your nails. This will dilute and "dissolve" the chile oil already on your hands. Wash all the oil off with dish lotion and lots of water. Works every time! It also works to remove fresh oil paint from your skin without using mineral spirits.

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When chopping hot peppers I either hold them with a fork or toss into the food processor. Peppermint soap will help dissolve the oil on your fingers.

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Buy "TechNu" from the drugstore. It's designed to dissolve oils from poison ivy/oak.

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Definately an old thread but great info. I cleaned jalapenos this morning and was still suffering almost 12 hrs later. read the suggestion for rubbing alcohol, which works but temporary, now just did limes and benedryl spray. I think now I'll survive ... hopefully

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LIME!!! My husband was in agony. Thanks to those who suggested it :) We didn't have any fresh lime, but I remembered we had frozen limeaide (for margaritas), I told him to open a can of it and viola! relief!! not to mention it was ice cold, worked immediately. Thanks again

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I just want to say God bless each and every one of you! You took your time to post a solution. Yesterday my husband and I cleaned 11.9 lbs of roasted hatch chilies the hot ones! I was wearing 2 pairs of gloves but it felt like the heat was still coming thru. In future if we ever do this again, I will get the more expensive gloves. I read solutions from lime to alcohol, and mylanta, yogurt and sour cream. I tried the yogurt and Vaseline but it was temporary. and the Olive oil only seemed to make the fingers hotter. I soaked my fingers in ice water again the relief only temporarily. Then I saw a few posts to try MUSTARD. So I put mustard at the tips of my fingers and placed the glove over it so it could soak. I PRAYED and laid hands on my fingers and commanded the pain to go in the name of Jesus. I also thanked God for my fingers and the pain just the way it was. In addition to declaring that because of Jesus stripes I was healed. I left the mustard on for about 30 minutes and continued to believe my fingers were healed. Done deal it went away completely and I'm always amazed at God's power!

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I haven't read through the entire thread, but I have found that washing my hands in warm or hot water sometimes exacerbates the effect so I try to remember to use cold water. I can usually handle chopping a couple of jalapenos bare-handed without a problem but I never thought poblanos would cause a problem. Well, they don't unless I grill them after removing the seeds and membranes and stuffing them. Again, the heat from the grill let me know I had been handling peppers, so now I wear gloves when preparing stuffed poblanos.

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I had tried most of the suggestions listed here and had no luck (in many cases it made the burning worse). What finally got rid of the terrible burning was some antibacterial that we got from Target. It was 70% alcohol - a couple of applications and water washes got rid of it all. Other straight alcohol such as gin or whiskey didn't do the trick (probably because of too much water). I will definitely wear gloves now everytime!

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I did the mustard that worked ok then I did the rubbing alcohol that worked great! I did wear gloves they must not have been very good ones.

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After trying most of the suggestions listed above, my most successful attempt was to get my hands wet, rub in a bit of baking soda and then dunk my hands in lime juice. I did this 3 times and they are now feeling MUCH better. I'm hoping the burn won't come back! Thanks to everyone for the advice

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Kid just saved my soul, ok so what she had me do is slather and I mean really slather your affected area in Dawn dish soap dry (no water), just use the soap, leave it on for a full 30 sec's to a min and then wash off with moderately warm to hot water but be careful cause the hot water will feel hotter than normal, but you have to use pretty warm to hot to get it off. I had to do this process twice but totally fixed it. Thx to my kiddo. :)

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I tried a whole bunch of the items mentioned below and for some reason none of them worked. A friend suggested I try to coat my fingers in honey. It worked. I kept them in honey for about half hour and then washed my hands off and it was gone. I was amazed and so very thankful for her creative idea. Bees are saviors!! Help save the Bees!!!

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I roasted and peeled poblanos yesterday and had burning under the fingernails all day.
Was not fun.

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I just had a slightly terrifying experience -- cut up an EXTREMELY hot jalepeno (my husband loves jalepenos, but he tried just a seed and almost threw up) and then must have had some oil under my fingernail which then I managed to transfer to my upper ear. Yow. I muddled through dinner with the burning mounting (dabbed some ricotta on my ear which seemed to help a bit) and then jumped into the shower. At that point, the heat traveled from the top of my ear to around the ear canal. 

So then I found myself at this thread -- thank goodness! The milk, etc. didn't seem to help, but I tried some vodka soaked qtips, leaving them (one at a time) gently sitting in my ear. At last the burning seems to be abating. Hallelujah! Many thanks to everyone for their tips and ideas...

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Lime juice! It worked for me instantly

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Wow learnt my lesson, gloves from now on. Tried oil,milk soap and water nothing help. Tried really HOT water and yoghurt after so definitely better not gone but might actually get some sleep tonight, thanks guys

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The lime does work! Only minimized the burn though but now its tolerable. thank you!

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I was cutting jalapeños today in class, no gloves available, and about 6 hours later I touched my eye for half a second and it felt like FIRE! and my eye would not water anymore! I got a small dixie cup and out milk in it, then would soak my eye in it for about 30 seconds at a time, then dab it with a towel! (incase people dont have eye wash things like me. It helped almost immediately and within minutes it was completely gone!)

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Eight years later and the remedies haven't changed! Like so many others I've sliced and diced my share of chillies without a thought until one delicious Serrano put the spark in my powder keg. Fingers on fire? Yep. Suffering for a whole day? Yep. Tried as many things here as you had access to? Yes. Perhaps it was a big mistake that I didn't do anything about the burning for the first six hours. It was very bearable and came on and off. After a quarter day, I tried washing my hands in a copious amount of dishwashing liquid and water. The inferno suddenly begun rage like a hundred billion burning comets in a shooting star parade. Out of all these remedies, I can attest that lime juice will at LEAST give you an immediate snuffing. I cut open a lime and dug my fingers right in. Ten minutes later my flaming phalanges were back, so I doused them in another lime. Holding them there didn't have a lasting effect, and I was desperate to be able to sleep. I popped two pain killers and two Benadryl knock offs, urinated on my hand and left myself saturated for at least two minutes, washed with soap thoroughly, threw a hand towel and a frozen water bottle in a ziploc bag and held it until I dozed off. When I awoke, my extremities were fit as a fiddle. Keep trying the things posted and do your best to get those oils off as soon as you notice the heat!

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witch hazel works for me, tried olive oil worked a little, milk worked for as long I had my hand in it

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Had cut red chillies wich caused skin burns. Apply coats and coats of body moisturiser or petroleum jelly 
 repeatedly .Works in 1 to 3 hours.

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Yes, the mustard worked quite well for me ... French's, classic yellow. My fingers were burning like crazy from stirring a pot of pasta sauce into which I added two of those small orangish hot peppers, never again. The spicy compounds traveling up on the hot steam hit my skin and "Oh, Mama" did it burn my fingers! I kept applying the mustard and it finally did the trick.

Mar

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Oh Boy!! I went through this dreadful experience last Sunday. Wanted to chop some chilies really fine for one of my recipes and missed taking precaution in hurry. After 15 mins my fingers were on fire. They were swollen and there was sever burning sensation. I am actually sensitive to spices and this has happened to me several years ago, which I obviously completely forgot till I felt the burning again this time. But it was too late. :(

I kept my fingers for more than an hour and the burning pain was growing deep and my whole palm started paining. I searched and found this article over internet. I tried many things here cold water, yogurt, vinegar, honey etc ...nothing worked. fresh lemon juice helped a little bit but fingers were burning so badly that i had to dip them again in cold water immediately. All the lemon juice got washed off. When now I think of it, probably i should have tried lemon juice with with ice dipped in it, i could have kept juice longer on my fingers. 

Anyways, i kept my hand in cold water for almost 4 hours with burning still on. Keeping hands in water has started making me uncomfortable now. I was almost on the verge of calling Urgent care and then I realized i had baking powder. I thought to give it a last try before calling up outside. I rubbed little powder around my wet fingers and voila!! There was an instant relief. I dried my hand and applied the dry baking powder generously around my fingers and palm. Good lord, my hands were finally out of water. With in few mins all the burning was completely gone. I was able to sleep peacefully after that. 

Thought to share my experience here, may be it will help others who might accidentally fall into this bad situation.

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I used Dawn dish soap and cold water to wash the Capsaicin oil off and it seemed to work but the burn transferred to my finger tips have to make sure faucets r cleaned off too. Rubbing alcohol helps with temp burn relief. Do not rinse with warm water. if really desparate try a stove degreaser.

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An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Buy yourself some disposable gloves.
The medical exam type gloves fit well, are sized and will cost you about $5 - $6 for a box of 100.
The food prep gloves, which I find sloppy, are about $5 for a box of 500.
Either will protect your hands.

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OMG, thank you to whoever thought of the mustard thing! It helped SO much. Mustard=magic

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Oh my gosh, I cut jalapeños and I tried every remedy on this status line and nothing happened. My hand is still burning I just want to sleep.

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Hi. Thank you so much for posting the lemon juice thing. I literally tried everything last night after cutting half of a chilli.after soaking my hand in vegetable oil, vinegar, yogurt, milk...I ended up rubbing my hand with a half of a lemon. I did that 3 or times until I felt only a minor discomfort and was able to sleep. So LEMON JUICE...I think. Or the combination of all...

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Okay I know what works I have tried everything! Run your hands under hot water for a minute or so. So that your pores open up and then pour regular vinegar over yur hands and let sit for a couple minutes rinse with cold water pat dry

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None worked and I just slept though it and it was not burning anymore in the morning but the milk and mustard helped

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Oh my goodness the rubbing alcohol suggestion worked immediately. I just poured it on my fingers and let it dry. I did this three times; no more pain!

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I was slicing some chillies and removing the seeds. I didn't wear gloves. At first there was no burning sensation. But minutes after I started to experience a terrible feeling, as if my fingers were on fire! I was so desperate for help! I cried as the pain was unbearable. I tried every remedy posted here. I discovered that soaking your fingers in a bowl of hot/ lukewarm water is really effective. At first you will feel pain, a discomfort, a tingling sensation that is almost unbearable. But try to soak your fingers long enough until the pain goes away. The hot water opens up the pores and removes the oil being absorbed by your skin. afterwhich I soaked my fingers in lime/ lemon juice and let it dry. It soothes the pain. I then washed my hands with soap and water. It was a miracle! The pain disappeared! :)

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So I almost died today. Sliced 6 insanely large jalapeños and after cleaning up all dishes my hands were on FIRE! For like 3 hrs. Tried everything..... Milk, coffee grounds, rubbing alcohol, pool water, sugar, nothing was working. Towards the end of the nightmare I was doing hot water scrubs and olive oil rubs. Used coconut oil too. Ended up busting out the ALOE GEL and slowly....after two hours got the burning under control,
NEVER AGAIN WILL I CUT JALAPEÑOS WITHOUT GLOVES ON.

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This just happened to me..I tried vinegar, ice water and no relief. I tried Benadryl spray...no relief. When I read about the lime, I ran to the kitchen and grabbed one of the halves that I had squeezed into my Guacamole and rubbed it all over my hands. The relief was immediate. I then rinsed them in a bowl of ice water and dryed them and the pain is 95% gone. They feel a little cold and tingly but all in all...success!

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As an aesthetician I can tell you that oil attracts oil. So I would use an oil (vaseline, olive, coconut) and after the burning goes away, the oil from pepper should be absorbed into that oil; then wash with dawn. It cuts grease/oil so you won't be all oily!

I used coconut oil and cool water with dawn.it worked great! Definitely don't use hot water bc it will spread the jalapeno oil.

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Try washing your hands with a toothpaste! I've tried vinegar, sugar, milk, and ice and nothing worked...so when i went to the bathroom, I thought I'd just wash my hands with some toothpaste. After washing my hands three times with toothpaste, my hands didn't burn anymore.

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I just cut the yesterday night and my fingers still feel like they are on fire! What would be the best thing for me to use. The sides if my fingers look like the are starting to blister up

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the best remedy that worked for me was to put my hands under hot, hot water, then rinse with ammonia. You need to open up your pores in order to release the pepper's oils.

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I tried washing my hands 15x - no luck.
Tried washing with goat's milk soap - no luck.
Tried rubbing alcohol - temporary relief (2 minutes.)
Tried vasoline - temporary relief (2 minutes.)
Tried sour cream - temporary relief (2 minutes.)
Tried mustard - temporary relief (2 minutes.)
Pain is down from a 10 to a 5. I wonder if it's because I initially washed my hands in hot water and it's in my pores now?
Anyway, Tylenol and off to bed. Next time I'll wear gloves. I've never had this reaction before, but I've also never cut 20 jalapeños in one session before. Lesson learned - thanks to those who tried.

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This happened to me when a co-worker brought in peppers from their garden. I took some home and that night chopped them up without any gloves. My hands started burning shortly after that. I tried some of the things outlined here like soaking hands in a baking soda paste, soaking in vinegar, and soaking in milk. Nothing worked. This went on for several hours. 

Luckily it was the night I did laundry and when I cleaned the dryer lint tray, the burning stopped immediately. The dryer lint must has absorbed the oils. 

So if all else fails, rub your hands in some dryer lint.

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I've cut jalapeños many times and never thought to wear gloves I don't know what batch from hell I bought but the pain has me up at 3 AM I tried whole milk baking soda and finally in desperation I dumped some bleach in with cold water and plunged my hands in - SWEET RELIEF but even as I type this the pain is coming back ! Ugh

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After cutting some jalapeños, I tried what is written here. The only thing that worked for is fresh lime. '

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Plain and simple. Thin layer of Vaseline and coat with salt and wait for the magic.

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I tried all that stuff-- limes , vinegar, mustard, but wasn't really cutting it. When I read about the hot water, I decided to try Boraxo and scrubbed with hot water twice. All better ! May take three times

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I recently made jalapeño poppers and made sure to soak and clean the seeds out. After about 20 min, my hands were on fire. I tried everything I had in the house.. Lemon juice, yogurt, rubbing alcohol, olive oil, you name it. I had zanfel in the medicine cabinet. It's usually used for poison ivy. I scrubbed my hands for 30 seconds and the burn was instantly gone. That is the only thing I found that worked!!

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APPLE CIDER VINEGAR!!! Worked almost instantly

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I cut 4 jalapeño peppers today and now both hand are burning terribly. Hope I can find a way to stop this pain!

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Okay, here is what to do, first wash your hands with dish soap, like Palmolive. Pat them dry. Then get some Solarcaine with Aloe Vera and coat your hands. Let that dry then get a Bite Stick with Amonia. Coat your hands, let it dry. Wait to see which part is still burning, re-coat with the Bite Stick, do this until no part is burning. This works !! I tried everything else, olive oil, olive oil with sugar, mustard, milk, vinegar, lime juice - - nothing took away the horrendous pain except the Solarcain with Aloe Vera and then the Bite Stick with Amonia. Within about five minutes of coating and re-coating the pain was gone. Next GET GLOVES so you never go thru this again !!!

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Tried all of these, what worked? Really hot water soak followed by rubbing alcohol soak.

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After trying literally every suggestion on here and the burning lasting 12+ hours and me not being able to sleep, the only think that worked was probably a mix of taking Benadryl, spraying my hand with sunburn spray that had lidocaine in it and then covering my had with a “medicated” (marijuana) cream. Now to function at work today with only 2 hours of sleep.

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Whatever you do, immediately go and pee!

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I’m glad this thread got resurrected. It is an entertaining and horrifying read. This has never, yet, happened to me, and I’m thankful. It also points out how tough a mouth must be if jalapeños do this much to hands, which always seemed pretty tough, but the mouth can still handle chiltepins or even ghost peppers.

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What if you're taking seeds out of the jalepen, my ear started to itch and I wasn't thinking about it when I stuck my finger in my ear now it's burning, what do I do? I've tried Vaseline, and coconut oil.

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I tend to use a lot of peppers; some hot, some not; but, I might feel the heat for a half hour. I will inevitably end up touching my eye about 1 out of 5 times I handle the hot guys. They really can't do you any harm, save for the unpleasant/unwanted hand warmers/goop eye. For me, it's worth the pain to have the flavor of habanero and cheltecpin.

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Water as hot as you can get it, EARLY and OFTEN. Scrub with dishwashing liquid preferably or whatever soap you have. Use your nails to scratch at the skin. It will hurt. But it is bringing the pain out, saving you from more hrs upon hrs of pain. After scrubbing, rub olive oil into hands. Repeat process as much as possible. 

Take breaks with cooling things if needed. Milk, cream, cold water, etc. then get back to scrubbing. 

I think a weak bleach solution will work if you can soak in it early on. I’ve not done it though. 

Contact rewetting drops are supposed to stop the sting in eyes. I used some when I was feeling paranoid. But, I’m not certain if I actually even needed anything in my eyes at the time.

Use plastic gloves when cleaning after fire goes out!!

Be careful where you touch yourself. Don’t scratch yourself anywhere when you have hot hands. 

This too will pass. Battle it with courage and take soothing breaks as needed. 

Educate your kids and grandkids on this topic!!!

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HELP... fingers are burning from cutting jalapenos. Remedies?

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