I once handled cash, then inadvertently touched my mouth with my hands. Within an hour, my upper lip started to burn and swell. What do you think may have caused my lip to get irritated and swell up?

First, do you have any known allergies?

@Imadethisupwithnoforethought

I used to get hives as a child, but I don’t get them anymore. I do have asthma under certain conditions.

@MRSHINYSHOES This reaction sounds allergic to me, but I am not a doctor.

You can get new allergies as an adult. If I had to guess, you have a hidden allergy to some kind of oil the person was eating. Maybe a pollen or grass they had on their hands.

@Imadethisupwithnoforethought

I’ve had this reaction only with paper money. The first time was with my left ear lobe. It got all red and swelled up. I looked like Mr. Spock for awhile. Lol. The most recent involved my upper lip. My wife says it was from handling cash, which is often “dirty.” But how did that happen if my skin was never broken?

We are going beyond my knowledge of biology :)

I experience the same reaction on occasion when nut oils are present and I touch a surface. Some one can correct me, but I think some allergens can be absorbed right through the skin.

@Imadethisupwithnoforethought Yes, that is what I’m thinking too. Allergens absorbed through the skin.

Maybe you have an allergy to cats and the last person who handled the money had cats, or handled nuts. If it does not happen everytime, than its not the cash but rather something the previous owner of the bill touched.
If it is the money than I would think your hand would be the first to react. It took me a while to figure out that a certain tree when shedding would cause me to break out in hives.

@Pandora Maybe, but I’ve had cats before, and the allergy I got from them was wheezing and itchy eyes, never a skin reaction. But good food for thought.

My husband was fine with cats till about 10 years ago. His mom use to have a cat that would curl up and sleep with us at night when we would visit. He had no reactions. As his allergies got worse he didn’t even need to touch them. If he went into a room where there was a cat or someone who lives with cats, he will feel itchy everywhere. I also never had any allergies until a few years ago. Well accept for one. When I was little, if a caterpillar touched me anywhere my skin would get a huge itchy welt. Funny enough it didn’t happen with butterflies.

What denomination was the bill?

Anything could have been on the cash that you touched. Perhaps you are allergic to cocaine. According to a CNN report, 90% of the dollar bills are contaminated with cocaine. Check this out. Currency is filthy. It is constantly handled by people with dirty hands. Hands that touch everything and anything which in turn pass the pathogens, drugs and filth onto the money and then to you.

Since 60–65% of the nations paper money is containminated with cocaine, this is the culprit in your situation.

I forgot the percentage but a huge amount of bills in circulation have traces of cocaine on them. Maybe that had something to do with it?

Okay, I just now read the other answers but here is the article anyways.