I was reading Betty Hall’s blog about gardening and milkweed and ran across a great article about possible blindness problems with milkweed. Article 1 – Article 2
If you cut the milkweed, get the white sap on your hands, and then rub your eyes, it can apparently cause temporary blindness.
Since I cut a lot of milkweed to raise monarch caterpillars, it’s definitely something I need to be aware of in the future.
On thing I do which may mitigate the problem is that I almost always wear gloves. Glove will not only protect your hands, but also they are easy to take off if you have to rub your eyes.
I like to use the throwaway exam/medical gloves. I have a tendency to get my cuticles infected and so they provide protection to my hands and can be thrown away when they rip. I do reuse them when possible.
Butterfly Gardening 