Plant gave me blisters, any idea?

[yesyesyep]

Is my hand going to fall off or should I just treat it like a normal blister?

When I was pulling up weeds yesterday, I stupidly caught my hand on what appeared to be really tall nettles.

I'm not a natural gardener, I'm still learning, but I assumed nettles only itched and gave you a mild rash?

I'll try and upload a pic. Should I keep it uncovered or covered up? Are there any plants that blister that need medical attention? It doesn't seem to be healing at all, if anything, it's getting deeper and wetter as time goes on.

Sorry for sounding silly. I've never had a garden before!

Not the best pic, but this is one of them.

There's a few plants you need to be very careful of. I'd be going to minor injuries just to check, if your blisters are getting worse. It may just be that you're allergic to nettles, or it may be that you've come into contact with something worse. Can you take a wee bit of the plant (in a clear box) with you so they can see what you've been exposed to?

Some plants you should know about: Euphorbia has a sap that is nasty, so needs gloves used when working with it. It's very pretty though so I have it in the garden, and am just careful. It's fairly common in gardens so you may have some of it.

The other one I know that blisters horribly is giant hogweed. It looks like a massive rhubarb, and is horrific if you get the sap on you. It's not a garden plant nowadays though (unless you've got a huge space) - it's more likely to be found along railway tracks and country roadsides. Avoid this at all costs though. You get massive blisters when you're first "burnt" by it, but it leaves you with sensitivity for life. Just simple sun exposure can trigger the blistering again for years.

Looks like hogweed to me. Never garden without gloves on.

No idea without seeing the plant, but if it turns out to be something like giant hogweed, which has toxic sap, you'll need to keep it covered to protect it from sunlight
www.healthline.com/health/hogweed-burns

It was definitely nettles. They had really thick purple stems. I wasn't planning on handling anything, I was just helping DH but I stupidly brushed my hand against them.

I have attached a pic of one of the plants that's left over from yesterday. I'd say it was nettles, but I can't find any information online about them causing weeping blisters.

I'm only concerned as they're so weepy. I thought they'd crust over overnight but they just seem worse.

Thank you for not calling me silly!

Yes those are nettles.

I wonder if you’ve got some kind of allergy/intolerance to them which has made the reaction worse.

Thank you. At least it clears up that it's not a crazy flesh eating species I didn't know about. I will keep an eye on it and hopefully it will improve.

Gardening is very new to me.

I would take antihistamines and wear gloves in future. I mostly only use gloves when dealing with nettles and brambles.

Urticaria, the medical name for hives is named after this plant - its botanical name is urticaria dioca.

Nettles are annoying, and a bad sting can tingle and itch for a couple of days, but it shouldn't do more than that. On the plus side, they tend to prefer good soil, so they're a good sign in that sense. And you wouldn't be a proper gardener without the occasional fight with stingers!

I suspect that as well as the nettles, there may have been another much smaller and insignificant-looking weed you pulled up as well. Euphorbia. It has nasty sap which is well known to cause rashes and blistering, almost like burns.

It got me once, and I had a reaction that looks much like your photo.

Parsnip plants can cause bad reactions too - eg www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1306680/amp/Parsnips-gave-blisters-Gardener-covered-sores-brushing-vegetable-leaves.html

Looking on the bright side, nettle stings are meant to be very good for the symptoms of arthritis!