Myrtle Spurge

I want to report the very bad reaction that Martha’s sister Jessie suffered from handling Myrtle Spurge. On April 28, 2016, she spent about two hours removing it from some property in Oroville, Washington that had recently been vacated by her sister Ethel who moved to an assisted living residence in Spokane. Ethel said that she had no knowledge of the plant’s bad reputation—that it was on the property when she came to live there several years ago. Jessie had learned that the plant is a nasty invasive weed and she wanted to avoid having the property sold to some other unwitting buyer. These are Jessie’s words as to what happened:

“There was no reaction that day.  The next morning when I awoke, my face was red and swollen.  That day it developed into blisters on my forehead and one eyebrow, sores on my upper lip under my nose and the blister under the left side of my lower lip.  My face and arms were very itchy.  The blisters developed more and in a few days my face started peeling.”

Continuing her story yesterday, 17 days later, she writes: “ It has all sort of healed since then -  My face has cleared up somewhat (I still have one sore below and to the left side of my lower lip) but I still feel the itch and I keep wanting to rub the left side of my forehead.  The skin on the outer side of my arms (between wrist and elbow) is very rough - like when you are cold and you get what we used to call 'chicken skin'.  My arms were just a bit swollen for a few days.  My face is still a bit more rosy than it is normally. I'm surprised my arms weren't more sore as I carried arms full of it to the garbage can and to the stacked pile in the garden. The infection actually invaded my body.  I am just beginning to get my energy back and my hair was affected - it went limp and lost a lot of the natural curl.”

Obviously, one should be well protected with disposable gloves, etc. when handling this plant. I have attached a photo of Myrtle Spurge as a reminder of its appearance. Thank you Jessie for sharing your experience. I hope that you will soon feel fully recovered and it will be just a bad memory.