Are you seeing a professional about this phobia? They can probably give you better advice than Internet strangers.

@Nate Eldredge Fair enough, but I've always figured that I wouldn't be able to do anything about it. I just wanted to throw this out here in case anyone reading happened to share my fear, and has dealt with it.

I wouldn't jump to that conclusion. As I understand it, phobias are very treatable.

@Greta you don't know until you try.

You may have to define "chemical" more stringently. Water is a chemical. It sounds like good education on exactly what chemicals you're dealing with, what they're made of, and how they react with various things (your hands, oils, sweat etc.) may be helpful.

@thosphor I wanted to point out that water is a chemical too, but it's hard to expect phobias to be rational.

@Allure The phobia may not be rational, but I think it will be easier to manage once the set of "triggers" (is that the right term?) is better understood.

Would some latex gloves help the situation?

Do you work alone in the lab or do you have a bench-partner? The latter would be pretty common, I think.

Ask for (or bring your own) gloves and glasses? I (being extremely overcautious) bought a fancy reusable breathing mask with replaceable filters for working with some chemicals and it was cheaper than most textbooks. But really you should trust your educators and work on the phobia.

FWIW, hand soap is as dangerous as most other cleaning products. The ones that are more dangerous would probably have eaten your skin as soon as you touched it.

@thosphor Yes, trigger is the correct term in this case, as it is referring to a stimulus that triggers a specific reaction based on the triggered person's particular brain.

Thanks for all your advice... I think my biggest issue is that I get very shaky when I'm forced to work with "chemicals" (obviously I'm using a very general term here) I mess up a lot, get very nervous, and start to hold my breath for long periods of time. And of course afterwards I feel "unsafe" or "unclean". I saw many people suggesting that I should ask what exactly I can expect to encounter in the labs, and I think I will send an email to my professor. I'm just a bit hesitant because I find this whole fear quite embarrassing, because I know it's pretty irrational.

@thosphor Yes, people use the word "chemical" in an imprecise way. Pointing this out does nothing to help the asker and looks downright unfriendly.

@Greta A mental health professional will be able to determine what treatment might help you. Specific phobias are treatable (generally). I know that our emotional responses do not always respond to rationality, but I think the point many are trying to make regarding the use of the term "chemicals" is that the things that trigger your phobia are not necessarily any different from things that don't trigger your phobia. Treatment can help turn that rational understanding into an emotional reality.

Have you tried talking to your advisor? Granted that I had a particularly helpful advisor as an undergrad, but I substituted several required classes for other things on weaker rationales than this.

@Greta, I'm sorry that you're suffering under this issue and I understand your embarrassment. That's pretty common around issues that run the whole spectrum of mental health concerns. My biggest regret is that I didn't seek professional help sooner. This is a life-affecting condition and it is a brave, strong thing to seek help for it. Never be fooled into thinking that "it's not a big deal" or that you're just being silly. There is a vast population of people seeking help from MH professionals that you never see and you are in less of a minority than you might think. You can do this!

You seam quite capable of it, so find a lab partner who hates writing.

Are you absolutely required to take a lab portion? Also, on a side note, I'm surprised you chose bio if you have to take a lab portion. Biology is quite a bit more... icky than chemistry. You'll likely have to dissect something at some point. I guess biological fluids might bother you less? Regardless, which one will be harder for you to deal with is something you should seriously consider.

@DavidRicherby The idea is to nail down what the subject of the phobia is to more precisely deal with it. My comment wasn't unfriendly, I don't know why you interpreted it that way.