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High concentration capsaicin kills c & a-delta nerve fibers permanently or at least long term.
This has been known for 30 years.

But capsaicin is only used in creams and patches, and not for injecting direcly into nerves, and people resort to nerve surgeries like nerve blocks, razor-damaging nerves, or rhizotomy to cut the nerve partially or fully. All of these options affect not just pain functions, but overall sensory functions.

On the other hand, capsaicin destroying c & a-delta fibers just affects pain.
So why is no one interested in capsaicin injection as an option before cutting nerves?

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  • $\begingroup$ Mine god Capsaicin is the pungent, burning component of chili (Capsicum sp, many edible cultivars) fruits. If it is injected, the patient should at-least feel severe burning pain. Even a very little concentration should be toxic enough because if I cut green chillies , even-after washing the hand with soap, If in that-day mistakenly rub eyes with that-hand, it cause burning pain and lots of tears... however no or only a little burn is felt on my adult finger skins. $\endgroup$ Sep 6, 2016 at 17:10
  • $\begingroup$ As a food-tradition, often the labourers and farmers eat very pungent foods containing high amount of chilli, and once I've read a theory that it is due to a painkiller activity of capsaicin. Capsaicin is NOT an anaesthetic-type of painkiller, but the exact-Opposite. According to terminologies of herbal medicine, it is "Counter-irritant" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterirritant), mostly a psychological effect, and partly due to increased fluid circulation. If injected, it would increase the inflammation, nothing better. $\endgroup$ Sep 6, 2016 at 17:25

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There is a simple answer to your question: it might cause a massive inflammation-like response and it might also hurt really, really badly.

Capsaicin activates heat receptors which are not only involved in heat reception (that would cause the pain as TRPV1, the receptor, is strongly activated at temperatures higher than 43 degree Celsius - accordingly, it will feel like burning from inside) but also in sensing inflammations within the body. That means that your body will think it has to take strong and immediate action if capsaicin enters tissues directly, flush out a bunch of neuropeptides and actually might start destroying the affected tissues.

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