Podcast 706: Pepper Spray Decon

  Contributor: Ramnik Dhaliwal, MD JD Educational Pearls: Pepper spray is a highly irritating compound with active ingredient of capsaicin Techniques to help decontaminate and alleviate symptoms of an exposure include: Disrobing the patient to prevent further exposure Half milk of magnesia and half water mixture can be used to soothe the skin in the area of exposure Proparacaine followed by Morgan lens to irrigate the eye in adults Nasal cannula connected to a liter of normal saline can passively irrigate the eye in small children and other less than cooperating patients References Tidwell RD, Wills BK. Tear Gas and Pepper Spray Toxicity. [Updated 2020 Nov 4]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK544263/ Summarized by John Spartz, MS4 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD