Silver ArrowsI didn't know isopropanol can give you chemical burns if you spill it on your clothing ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
cybervegan@SilverArrows Ouch! IPA is pretty harsh. Are you ok?
@cybervegan I was cleaning marker off a doll and spilt some on my thigh. I assumed it would just evaporate, but I suppose the clothing kept it in contact long enough to burn.
It didn't start hurting until 4 hours later, so I didn't even realise anything was wrong. It makes my fingerprints turn white for about 5-10 minutes if I get it on my fingers, but I didn't know it could do worse.
Now the bigger patch has blistered.
PSA if you get isopropanol on your clothes, change out of it and rinse your skin properly.
I looked up getting burns from isopropanol and I couldn't find anything. Even the gov.uk site just says it can cause irritation. My uncle said if it's burned me there must be contaminants. Mine was advertised as 99.9% pure, but the bottle doesn't say anything. I've used it to clean electronics safely so I'm assuming it's 99.9%.
#safety #isopropanol #isopropylalcohol #chemicalburns #psa #warning #burns
@SilverArrows You might just be sensitive to it, but finger skin is much more resilient than thigh skin - finger skin keratinised, whereas most leg skin isn't. Keratin is your skin's armour. On top of that, it might have dissolved something in your clothing (like a textile dye, the marker pigment or even detergent residue) and transported that into your skin, causing the reaction. Some alcohols are able to completely penetrate your skin, though I'm not sure if IPA is one of them.
@cybervegan https://mastodon.social/@SilverArrows/113958088011243888
This is what it does to my fingers.
@SilverArrows Eek yes that looks like the skin has been "defatted" where the natural oils have been dissolved away. Alcohols and other solvents can do that. It usually corrects itself after a few hours, so I wouldn't worry about that too much, as long as it's not regular and repeated. But blisters on your thigh you need to be careful with obviously. If they persist or get worse I think you need to consider checking with your doctor. Don't want it to get infected.
@cybervegan it's fine, it lasts a few minutes and then fixes itself. I might pop into the pharmacy tomorrow on the way home and ask if I need to worry. The pain has reduced a lot so I think it's getting better.
@SilverArrows That's good, and a good plan. You don't need extra things dragging you down.
@cybervegan I used my trusted lavender oil (it stops blistering if you apply it as soon as you've cooled the burn), but I left it until after the blister, because for some reason I assumed it was just irritation from it dissolving my skin's natural oils. But after I applied the lavender, the blister went down and was gone by bedtime. It's scabbing over now, a bit itchy yesterday, but the pain has gone.
Checked in with the nurse today and she said it's healing and no sign of infection.
I just checked the bottle of isopropanol and look what it says. I didn't read the manual and that's on me. But at the same time, it does just say "causes minor skin irritation."
So the theory that it might have reacted with residue in my clothing may be the answer. Because I sometimes use laundry sanitiser, but I don't know for sure if those trousers were in one of those loads. But that does have a corrosive warning on it.
@SilverArrows Yep that's the thing about solvents - they can pick up all sorts of things they come into contact with, and then take them deeper into your skin than you want. My money is on the marker pigment, but we'll never really know. Like anything that can cause irritation, individual reactions can vary. My step-they is sensitive to SO many things, even now, can't use just any laundry detergent, anything apart from the co-op non-bio one gives them a rash. They've had reactions to so many apparently innocuous things in the past.
Edit: forgot to say glad it's healing. Brainfog is king today.
@cybervegan I don't think it was anything from the doll as the spill was directly from the bottle onto my clothes. I'm not sure it was even marker, who knows what the kids manage to stain things with. But I've cleaned permanent and whiteboard marker with ipa without issue, most likely it was either just prolonged contact with the ipa, or there was residue from the laundry sanitiser.
Oh no, I hope they continue to make that same formula for the detergent.
@SilverArrows I know right. I guess you'll be more careful with solvents now - painful lesson.