Honestly, I don't think I'd worry about it too much. I have one, and it really doesn't seem too fussy. It is putting out new growth even in this gloomy weather, and hasn't cared about my temps (ranging from 62-85F... wacky heating system... fixed now) or my humidity (teens-50%). It spent at least a couple months sitting between two south facing windows, close to the wall so it didn't get very great light, due to my lack of space on the shelves in front of the windows, and still opened all its buds, blooms lasting quite well. Now that I've cleared some space for it on my shelves, it is looking happy, green, and growing. Now the real test will be if I get it to rebloom, but if it keeps going the way it is going, I feel confident that it will. Anyway, it is doing much better and is much happier than some Phals in my house, which are supposedly easier.

Use gloves to use the tools, such as cardboard folded into tongs, newspaper, old carpet, which you then capture the plant, avoiding direct contact and saving the gloves for another day. Once gloves have touched nearly any Opuntia cactus, the glochids have lodged into the gloves and the gloves are now compromised.

MorZ8, I've had exactly the same last July on splitting about 300 H. sternii pods, many of them before they were ripe in order to package up seed for the HELLEX seed exchange last year. I don't normally harvest until the pods split under very gentle pressure between finger and thumb, but this time I was being impatient to get these seeds in with others I was sending off. Any one who got H. sternii 'Beatrice le Blanc' in this years HELLEX exchange, I had days of numb, then itchy, then peeling skin off the fingers. It was very similar(though more extremedue to quantity) to the effect when cooking chillies, especially habaneros. So be patient and wait until the pods split under gentle pressure, rather than using your nails to force them open and shedding juice. I've never had this off any other species, but then I've probably never tried to harvest so early. Mary, your rash may be phyto photo sensitivity, many plants especially rue can cause this in conjunction with sunlight, my daughter had it quite badly when she was young. Any one know what the chemical basis of hellebore sap is. Cheers Greenmanplants.

DO NOT LISTEN TO YOUR BODY OR WAIT A FEW DAYS TO SEE HOW YOU FEEL. Get to the emergency room immediately and have them check you out. Soft tissue injuries or internal injuries can take days or even months to manifest, but if you delay even a couple days the insurance companies will fight you tooth and nail later. If you have it looked at now, that officially establishes the onset date for any future claim you may have to file. Ask any lawyer and they will tell you it is much easier to prove a claim, even if you mediacally check out fine right now. Many insurance policies even have a clause that says you are not covered if the original accident was not seen by a doctor with an specified period of time, which is typically about 48 to 72hrs.