Chili oil and eye care

[Mira O'Halloran]

So, i was cutting up chilis the other night, I washed my hands with cold water after, lay down on the couch, rubbed under my eyes, then brushed an eyelash out of my eye. Within seconds I couldn't bear to open my eyes, in my eyes and around my eyes were on fire, it was getting into my nose.

So what went wrong here? I washed my hands, and that should have fixed it, right? No - what stayed behind was chili oil. If i'd washed my hands with warm-hot water, I probably would have been fine.

What to do in the emergency of chili oil in the eyes:
Very warm (not hot) salty water and flush through the eyes - we did this with me lying on a couch, a towel around my neck and face and Matt wiping and sweezing the salt water with cotton balls around and in my eyes. It needs to be done continously for about 5 minutes, after which if the pain has not at least started to go away, get to a hospital.

You can actually damage your eyes, and it can cause blindness. Pepper spray is made from chilis milder cousin, the sweet bell pepper or capsicum.

If you have any questions please ask.

[Rook]

Mmmm, memories of being pepper sprayed.

Johnson's Baby, or other tear free, soap works wonders because you can just slather it on the eye and around it. Be mindful of where you let the rinse water run, as the oil is being carried away by it and can irritate areas it rinses over.

I'd simply caution everyone who needs to wipe either peper spray or chili oil out of their eyes that water re-activates any leftover oils. Once you get it to the point where it no longer burns, or no longer burns to the point of madness, for the love of Swiss Cheese don't put more water on it! You'll start the whole process over again with the remaining oils.

And a reminder, that though the capsicum that pepper spray is made from may be the milder cousin to a chili, the actual irritants that cause the burning contained in pepper spray are of such a concentration that it's nearly incomparible. I just didn't want anyone to get some false sense of security that if chili's don't bother then they don't have to worry about pepper spray.

[Mira O'Halloran]

Chili is worse then pepper spray, that's what i've been told, and i believe it. I was writhing around almost screaming (it was the desperately needing to keep calm thing that had me quiet-ish) And I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Yes, water itself is a dumb idea. We put about a heaped tablespoon of salt into half a litre (500mls) You want it to taste saltier then the ocean (it was disgusting) And the water needs to be hottish. Not burning, but warm enough to get the oil off the eyeball/skin. Cold water contracts the pores which may trap chili oil in the areas where you dont want it.

[Rook]

I thought that opening the pores made it easier for the oils to enter the skin and cause irritation? The same reason you only wash onion off your hands with cold water, otherwise the hot water allows onion smells to get trapped in your pores and it's harder to get the onion out.

[Mira O'Halloran]

I've rubbed the oil in a sensitive spot and started crying warm watery tears everywhere, so before I've applied the hot salt water, it's pretty deeply entrenched in the pores. I had it in my nose before Matt started flushing my eye. Bleh.