To go to A&E?

[Chocolattay]

I’ve never had any kind of reaction to anything before.

Went for lunch at a cafe with my friend and our babies. Used the hand sanitizer (alcohol based) in the toilet and instant agony, hand swelling up. I was in there 5 minutes biting my lip in pain and soaking my hand under cold water. My friend ended up in coming in and checking on me as she’d started to wonder why I had been so long.

Had to ring DH to be picked up as pushing the pram was agony.

Been home an hour now and am still in so much pain. My hands are swollen and red and bleeding in places. When I say it’s agony I mean it. Having read up online, alcoholic hand sanitisers don’t usually cause allergic reactions and it’s more likely to be a chemical burn.

WIBU to go to minor injuries? I’m in that much pain I can’t tend to my baby.

@Sarahcoggles

I assume you washed it with soap afterwards, tried antihistamine, and also some anti burn cream?

Why would you chuck all of that on top of that very very sore looking skin!

Soap on a potential burn!

Ouch! Hopefully you don’t need to wait too long in A&E.

I agree with the people that suspect it wasn't hand sanitizer at all.

Every time I went to A&E I was always reassured by their lovely staff that if you worry, they will see you. If you worry and thank you want to get it checked asap, go!

I asked DH as he's a chemistry prof. He said it may well be the sanitiser but not in the way you think. The alcohol in the santiser could have caused one of the ingredients in the handcream to become more absorbant and you've then had a reaction to that ingredient which doesn't normally bother you as you don't normally absorb it.

Hope you have been seen now op.

Hope they don't keep you waiting too long OP. Looks nasty and painful

@BringBackCoffeeCreams

I asked DH as he's a chemistry prof. He said it may well be the sanitiser but not in the way you think. The alcohol in the santiser could have caused one of the ingredients in the handcream to become more absorbant and you've then had a reaction to that ingredient which doesn't normally bother you as you don't normally absorb it.

Just to say that THIS is the kind of useful “I just asked DH” type posts rather than the “hark, a man has given his opinion” type posts we so often get!

Hope you’re okay, OP! So glad you went to get seen

Ouch, poor you :-(

Home now. A&E treated it appropriately but didn’t actually give me much info on the cause other than that it was probably an ingredient in the sanitiser. I’ve been told to avoid sanitisers. Obviously A&E are just there to treat the injury and not do investigations beyond the initial danger so I’m not complaining.

Oh but they did confirm it’s a chemical burn and not an allergy.

So a stiff drunk is in order

So maybe contact the restaurant/cafe tomorrow and formally note it's a chemical burn and ask them to report it as riddor.

It looks like the reaction I had after washing my hands at work. It came on suddenly like yours did. Turns out the handbasins had just been cleaned and they had used a descaler. That is what affected me so badly. My face swelled up too because I had touched my face after it had gone on my hands.

@Ddot

So a stiff drunk is in order

Do you mean a stiff drink per chance? ;)

My friend did this by using the hand sanitizer in the gym. Only it was cleaning spray. He had a chemical burn too. Hope it’s feeling better soon.

Glad you went to get some treatment and hope it feels better soon. Must have been a real shock

I wonder if someone has put the wrong stuff in the dispenser. It does happen. You would be surprised how many people have such poor reading skills that when faced with similar looking bulk containers mix ups can happen.

Poor you to go for a nice lunch and end up with chemical burns
Glad you’ve been seen and hope it’s quick to heal.

Something doesn't add up.
I'm not doubting your story but there must be more to the story than hand samnitiser shurely? There must have been another chemical involved somehow.

@Xoxoxoxoxoxox could be just one ingredient in the hand sanitizer that op isn’t used to. I get bad blistering chemical burns from certain brands of mayonnaise - not sure why but I have super sensitive skin

This happened to me once. It was the soap in a hotel. Both my husband and I had an awful reaction although we didn't go to hospital (we were abroad apart from anything else). Hotel couldn't have cared less. It's never happened to me before or since.

@Xoxoxoxoxoxox.

It really is strange, isn’t it? The people I saw in A&E all said there was probably more too it that just the hand sanitiser.

I’m deffo thinking the hand cream. But also I was dealing with lime juice yesterday while cooking and got some on my hand (thought I’d washed it all off) so wondering if that could be related as well. I’ve heard of margarita burn which can happen when you have lime juice on your skin that reacts with sunlight so it seems lime can often be a culprit in chemical burns.