How to Treat a Hot Pepper Burn

After making your famous chili or smokin' hot salsa, your hands may feel like you roasted them over a Bunsen burner. Once capsicum oil meets skin, it can be very difficult to stop the burning. A few simple steps will turn down the heat.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Wear rubber gloves the oil can seep through latex gloves.

2. Wash your hands thoroughly with dish soap to get all the oil off your hands. Use a fingernail brush to scrub nails with dish soap.

3. Take an over the counter pain killer as directed.

4. Soak fingers/hands in a bowl of cold milk. The fat in the milk helps soothe hands better than ice water.

5. Apply an ointment to treat and soothe burns such as aloe vera or hydro cortisone cream.

6. Repeat the milk soak as needed. It will not harm your hands, so do not hesitate to soak as often as necessary

7. Put on gloves to clean the area where you cut the peppers. Use a cleanser with bleach to rid your counter tops, cutting boards and knives of any residual oil.

Tips & Warnings

• It is possible to have an allergic reaction to the pepper oil. An antihistamine or other over the counter allergy pill may help.
• Other recommended soaks: vinegar, vegetable oil, tomato juice/sauce/paste, yogurt, baking powder paste and waterless hand cleanser.
• A swab of rubbing alcohol may also help.
• Do not touch anything until you have washed your hands. Even after washing, your hands avoid your eyes and other sensitive areas.

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[CeeQueue]

on 11/2/2008 To whatalune: thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! I just spent half an hour trying to quench the burn after accidentally tossing into my mouth and chomping on what I thought was a green pepper in my Chinese soup, that turned out to be a wickedly hot pepper. Nothing was working. I read all the above suggestions and was about to start trying some of them when I read your comment and immediately got some chewable Gaviscon and sucked on one for a few minutes. The burn subsided very quickly, after nothing else I tried had worked. I will always remember your tip, but hope never to experience that again!

[whatalune]

on 2/20/2008 Okay I know the answer to chili pepper burns on your skin. Vegetable oil is total crap. I called poison control. The lady knew right away what I was talking about. She said to soak my hands for twenty minutes in Maalox. Does something to the nerve endings. She was absolutely right. After hours of burning and trying cold water, rubbing alcohol, vegetable oil, and vitamin e oil, Maalox did the trick for good. ALWAYS wear gloves when cutting up hot peppers.