Chopping a few jalapenos with your bare hands may not hurt, but if you're handling massive quantities, you'll certainly feel it. Be extremely careful about touching your face, especially your nose and eyes. If you do rub chile oil into your eyes, flush them immediately with cold running water. The hottest part of a chile is not the seeds. As the chile is picked and transported, this powerful chemical is released onto the seeds.
Seeds look good floating on top of a salsa, lending authority and giving it an authentic look.
Remove the seeds as you chop the chiles, then add them back to the finished salsa. And be sure to check the heat level. Blacken the chile by turning it over a gas burner or by putting it on a stainless steel cooling rack placed over an electric burner. The gas-burner method works best because the flame just chars the surface, without actually cooking the chile. Place blackened chiles in a plastic or paper bag so they will briefly steam.