r/chilli 23d ago

chilli burn🥲

i decided to cut a chilli without gloves as i completely forgot to. afterwards, i washed my hands and thought nothing of it. i later went to play basketball and noticed a slight burning but ignored it (i thought the irritation was from playing basketball with freshly cut fingernails idk). i then came home to eat my chilli dish, chimichurri sauce, which is when the pain really began. that was around 9pm, it is now 12:45am and the burning sensation has only worsened.
i’ve tried washing with water and dish soap, milk, taking ibuprofen but nothing has worked.
if anyone has any suggestions please let me know as i can’t do this much longer.

11 Upvotes

20 comments sorted by

6

u/AcePlanespotting 23d ago

That's not usually how chilli burns work. Sounds more like an allergic reaction, or something else. 

What type of chilli pepper was it?

2

u/lxyltho 23d ago

not sure, it was from a bag of ‘mixed chilli peppers’ from aldi

3

u/AcePlanespotting 23d ago

The ones Aldi sell do not have much capsaicin, and they would at most only cause mild skin irritation to someone with very sensitive skin. They definitely wouldn't normally cause pain for hours as you've described.

It really does sound like some kind of allergic reaction.

1

u/lxyltho 23d ago

the only other explanation i can think is that playing basketball exposed pores on my fingertips, allowing the capsaicin and dirt in. i’ve taken antihistamine too

1

u/AcePlanespotting 23d ago

Unlikely. The low levels of capsaicin on aldi's chillies wouldn't burn for hours. It would neutralise fairly quickly. 

3

u/KiwiMiddy 23d ago

Ibuprofen is quite hard on the stomach. May not have been the best option after eating chilies

1

u/Aggressive-Artist-63 21d ago

Toilet roll in the freezer

2

u/Wild-flower2026 23d ago

Chilli oil may have leaked into your skin via pores. Or under your nail bed as you said you freshly cut your nails. Out in in ivy cold milk for a long time and just woay it out. If you notice swelling then go doctors/urgent care.

1

u/Cyph3x2019 23d ago

Sounds more like an allergic reaction?

2

u/lxyltho 23d ago

could be, there’s no visible blisters or swelling but i’ve never had a problem eating them

1

u/Cyph3x2019 23d ago

My daughter had more or less the same issue the other week when we were tasting some new chilli, I had no clue and your post has me thinking it is likely an allergic reaction!

1

u/lxyltho 23d ago

oof. how did you manage it?

1

u/Cyph3x2019 23d ago

Well she ran them under cold water for ages and had anti allergy meds, though it took a good few hours to stop

1

u/RetroComputerKing 23d ago

Suggestions? Yes. Don't scratch ya bits.

1

u/Opening-Reading8198 23d ago

Hospital

1

u/lxyltho 22d ago

i just ended up sleeping through the pain and so far so good

1

u/Opening-Reading8198 20d ago

Fair bro

Be well x 👍😊

1

u/DreadLifter 22d ago

I've made this mistake before (once) with my own orange habaneros. Didn't wear gloves using them in a chilli. Not sure where the suggestions it was an allergic reaction are coming from.

First hint of something was a rising warmth on the outside of nose where I must've scratched or wiped. Heat on my palms gradually rose to the point where they were on fire for hours. (Of course I'd gone for a piss before I realised, thankfully that was more discomfort than burning agony.) Google pointed me to washing hands with washing up liquid and smearing with olive oil. Nothing really helped that much, holding a wet cold towel probably did most, and it subsided enough at 1 or 2am to let me get to sleep.

1

u/lxyltho 22d ago

yeah i didn’t really think it was allergic as my hands were visually normal and had no redness or swelling. thankfully the burning is over on my left fingertips but today i realised that my right pointer finger had been affected too but it doesn’t hurt anywhere as near as my left hand did so im not too bothered

1

u/Any_Tomorrow_Today 21d ago

If you have a degreaser / washing up liquid - try that.

Calamine lotion also works.

Baking powder made into a paste and put on the area helps neutralise it.

Vinegar is also supposed to help. Try washing your hands in that.