What to Do If You Get Hot Pepper in Your Eye (Seriously)

1. 

   If you've ever worked with hot peppers in the kitchen, you've probably realized touching them with your hands leads to all sorts of disastrous things. Here's how to relieve the burning in your skin and eyes. 

   
   

   Whole Milk

   • 
     Whole milk helps break down the hot pepper oils. Pour whole milk into a shot glass; fill it about halfway full. Holding the shot glass upright, lower your head over it until your eye is pressed up against the rim. Make sure the glass rim is sealed against your skin. With a quick flip, tip your head back with the glass held against your skin. Blink your eye in the milk, and allow the liquid to soothe and remove the hot pepper. After bathing the eye for about 10 to 15 minutes, place a milk-soaked towel over your eye for another 30 minutes or until the pain is significantly lessened.
     
     A weblog BlogHer recommends using the same thing you'd use to relieve that pain in your mouth: milk.

     Using one of our little drinking glasses, I was somehow able to get milk into my eye. (Don't ask me to demonstrate.) I also did a fairly good job of making the milk run all the way down my face and neck, but whatever.

     Instant relief. I stood there, blinking milkily in unbelief. Could I really have just gone from that much pain to practically no pain with just a few swishes of milk? Indeed I had.

     
     

   Saline Solution

   Aid your body's natural defense mechanism by flushing the eye with a saline solution, such as one used by contact wearers. Alternate blinking and flushing the eye out for at least 30 minutes, but avoid touching the area with your hands. Avoid repeat touching of the area because that can reactivate the capillaries and increase the pain, according to pepperspraystore.com.
2. 
   

   Water

   • If you have no other available alternatives, try flushing the eye with water. Because the pepper juice is oil-based, it won't wash away easily or quickly. Get to a sink, and allow cool water to run over your eye for about 30 minutes. You may not be able to open your eye at first, but try to blink as much as possible to get natural tears flowing and to allow the water to flush the oil away. Lay down with a cool wet towel over the eye until the pain lessens, says thechiliman.com experts.

     
     

     eHow also says you can use liquid antacid, though the milk is probably closer in reach.

     If you feel your hands burning and want to get the pepper oils off before touching your eyes, washing your hands with soap and water won't help. Weblog The Kitchn notes that oil-based products, however, will:

     Olive oil! When the pain became unbearable, I rubbed a tablespoon of olive oil all over my hands for about a minute, then washed them with soap and water. The olive oil helped to dissolve the capsaicin in the jalapeno - which is more soluble in oil than in water - so it could be rinsed away.

     Both are clever ways to solve the pepper-burn problem, but as a pre-emptive strike, we recommend wearing gloves whenever you handle hot peppers. If you do, you'll probably avoid ever having to use the above tricks.