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.

So I’m thinking the lime juice or the hand cream (or a combination of the two) reacted with the sanitiser causing the burn.

I’m just glad the reaction happened instantly. I hate to think I’ve have picked DD up/touched her skin getting it on her

Not happened to cook with chillis have you? My friend had a similar reaction when she touched the seeds. Ive touched them and not had a reaction but hers was agony.

Could it have had aloe Vera in it?

I used some aloe Vera extract lotion that my friend was selling and it pealed all the skin off my face, burnt it and spread my head and neck

Glad you were seen.Is it any less painful ?

Is it both hands ? Wouldn't it be all over your hand/s if it were hand cream + something ?I'm trying to visualise where one squirts sanitiser to work out where it would first come into contact with your hand .But failing!

It is both hands and only the back, palms are fine

I watch a YouTuber who had awful margarita burns from limes and sunlight

OP I am so sorry this happened to you. The reaction thing seems really unlikely. Sorry to say I think that sanitised was tampered with.

Glad you’ve been seen OP. Hopefully you aren’t too sore.

You poor thing, what a painful and nasty thing to have happen

[quote Chocolattay]@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.[/quote]
Hope it heals up quickly

I think if they're saying it was a chemical burn that means it can't have been you reacting to the hand cream or the sanitser, as that would be an allergy. Much more likely that someone had refilled it with a cleaner solution.

Lime also wouldn't tend to make things worse as it's an acid - your burn would've been something like a cleaning solution which is alkaline.

If you've got the time I'd definitely contact the place you went to and explain they must look into it xx

@AColdDuncanGoodhew

I watch a YouTuber who had awful margarita burns from limes and sunlight

Me and my sister used to spend our summer holidays squeezing lemon juice all over our hair and lying in the sun in an attempt to lighten it

Seems we got off lightly with just mildly crispy hair.

This strikes me as looking like a reaction my DS has to a particular shower gel. He gets a sunburn looking, burning rash when he uses it. It needs ice to cool/ calm it down. Obviously now we avoid that shower gel but it does the same thing. Very strange

Phytophotodermatitis is the proper name for margarita burn.

Where I live some of the shops were putting all sorts in the sanitiser dispenser. I once got what seemed like bleach and water. I started bringing my own as I tend to get allergies.

Surely you wouldn’t still have lime juice on your hands from the day before?!

BrutusMcDogface
Surely you wouldn’t still have lime juice on your hands from the day before?!

It's possible to get delayed allergic reaction.

OF COURSE, you should go! You've had such a severe reaction that your hands are bleeding.

Don't be tempted to put E45 cream on it. I had chemical burns to my face after using the veet senstive facial hair remover nothing sensitive about that bastard. It was akin to having a thousand fire ants dancing a merry jig across my face whilst wearing acid soaked ice skates. Typically it was on Valentine's Day too and I ended up sitting in the restaurant with a bright red face and loads of spots. It took 6 months to get it back to normal again and lots of facial scrubs with sugar and olive oil to get my skin soft again. Needless to say the veet has gone bugger all near my face again

@Mamanyt um, she's been, was treated and is probably now tucked up in bed!

[quote SpongebobsPants]@Mamanyt um, she's been, was treated and is probably now tucked up in bed![/quote]
Yeah, I saw that after the fact.

Burned my hands on chilli juice, I sat with my hands in a bowl of milk for an hour it did bugger all, stung for two days. I had to sleep with wet cotton gloves on.

So sorry this happened, hope it heals soon

Your hands will be sensitive to the sun for a while now, definitely grab some sunscreen for use after it heals

report it to environmental health at your local council in the morning.

The handcream would have been rubbed over all your hands when applied. It may then have rubbed off on the palms due to pushing pram, opening door, holding a mug etc. so the reaction was just with the remaining handcream on the backs of hands.
Just a thought. Hope you feel better soon.

Good point Tablesetting.So one theory = something in handcream reacted to sanitiser and resulted in the burns .

And interesting post from unici5 about a lime juice element binding to the skin.

Apologies to poor Chocolattay for reducing her situation to a hunt for the answer to what caused her burns .

Though if something in the sanitiser reacts to something in hand cream both substances need investigating .