I cut a habenero pepper and now my hands are burning! What can I do, if anything, to take away the pain?

Question

I chopped up 2 habenero peppers and washed the cutting board using my hands. I had no idea that you're supposed to wear gloves. My hands are in extreme pain and I can't stand to have them out of ice water for more than one minute. It's already been 4 hours and it's only getting worse. I also took 2 Aleeve.

Answer 1

People are posting washing in water or milk, assuming that it's an acid burning your hands. But it's not an acid -- it's capsaicin, and a base won't do any good for getting rid of it.

Put a tablespoon of chlorine bleach in a quart of water, and rince your hands in it. The bleach will destroy the capsaicin, stopping it from getting worse. After four hours, you probably have a decent chemical burn, though, so it probably won't stop the pain altogether.

Answer 2

Put Ice on It Somehow. And Keep it In The Ice The Best Way You Can
Or Try Frozen Meat/Cold Pkging Items Just Keep It In The Ice and Use
A WashCloth With It.

Wash off the Pepper Burn as much as can too.

It Will Take Some Time To Do This So Lay Down And Rest While Relieving
This Pain. Next Time Remember To Cut Peppers With Gloves. Wash
Glove With Dish Soap. Place Peppers In Ice Box and Play Later On After You Cleaned Them. Or Just Tackle The Preparation one day
take time and do later the rest next day. It's Easier Experience.
I Like To Cook Them In The Oven Then Take Them Pappers Out
Of Oven And sprinkle cheese and cook. They taste better to me
if you are making Stuffed Peppers With Cheese and dip in Yogurt
or Sour Cream.

Answer 3

Whatever you do, don't touch your face! Seriously! Try soaking your hands in milk. It might get worse before it gets better, so be careful what you touch! The peppers have soaked into your skin, so you won't have complete pain relief until it wears off. Sorry!

Answer 4

Use whole milk. It has an enzyme in it that will get rid of the oil from the peppers creating the heat. I saw this on the food network.

Answer 5

lemon or lime juice works.
rubbing them with slices of cucumber also works....
holding a frozen bag of veggies takes away the sting, too......
when the burning subsides enough to drive, go get some aloe vera gel.....and use it as often as you think of it for the next day or so...
if they are really, really red and stinging and none of these things work, you may have created second degree burns and you should see a dr. asap

Answer 6

you are being burnt by the acid that is in the peppers, first wash your hands very thoroughly with cold running water, then apply aloe to your hands, this should stop the burning.

Answer 7

Wash your hands in lime or lemon juice

Answer 8

Try wash your hands in lemon juice.

Answer 9

try milk, it works for your mouth when youve eaten something spicy.

I would think that the citric acod in lemon juice would make it worse.

Answer 10

Soak them in milk or maybe try putting baking powder on them.