Preventing the Patchy, Pestering, Pruritis of Poison Ivy and Poison Oak by Wayne Emineth PA-C

Poison ivy leaves and stems produces an oily resin called urushiol. This resin is very stable and can last for weeks on shoes, garden tools, backpacks, tents, yard furniture and even on pine straw over which the poison ivy has grown.

Washing the resin off the skin is the most important step after exposure. Clothes should be washed and yard tools, boots, backpacks should be wiped/sprayed down with soapy water, wet wipes or Windex sprayed on a paper towel. Any type of soap removes the resin which limits exposure and stops it from spreading. Once the resin has been removed any further contamination is stopped. Water alone will not remove the poison ivy resin. What will remove the resin? Wet wipes, baby wipes, even Windex sprayed onto a paper towel can remove the resin. No, Windex sprayed onto a paper towel and used to remove poison ivy resin is not toxic–the ammonia in Windex is the same ammonia that is in smelling salts and is used to wake someone up. To remove the resin from the skin a thorough washing must be performed as soon after exposure as possible. After 10 minutes, about 60% of the urushiol resin can be removed with soap and water; after 30 minutes, only 15% is removed; and after 60 minutes, very little can be removed. The more time the resin has to penetrate the skin the worse the itching and blisters will be. The itching and blisters take 12 to 24 hours to appear after the skin has been exposed.

Contrary to what many believe–the fluid inside of the blisters from poison ivy does NOT contain any resin and can not spread the poison ivy rash. Any additional poison ivy rash that appears after the initial eruption is due to later exposure or due to contact with shoes, garden tools, backpacks or anything else that had contacted poison ivy leaves.

IvyBlock Lotion has shown to reduce and even prevent poison ivy if used before exposure. Wear gloves, long sleeves, and long pants when outside to avoid exposure. IvyBlock uses a form of clay called bentonite. If you don’t have any IvyBlock any form of clay mud will do and it looks really cool when smeared over a person’s legs and arms, even more cool when smeared on a person’s face. Please check your mud for sticks, rocks, worms and bugs before use.

Your dog can walk through poison ivy, carry the resin on its fur and pass it to you. Thanks Fido! The same removal method using wet wipes, baby wipes or a bath will remove the resin from your dog and prevent you from getting poison ivy on your face after you fling a frisbee into a field of poison ivy for Fido to fetch. Humans are the only creature on earth that get a rash from poison ivy. We humans are special in so many ways.

Poison ivy resin does not burn, it vaporizes much like steam. If you breathe in the vaporized resin while burning poison ivy then I pity you for the itch in your throat and lungs that you will not be able to scratch.

Your mom does not want to get poison ivy from the clothes you wore cleaning out her flower bed, so strip off at the washer, put your clothes in it, put soap in it and turn it on then go shower yourself. By the way why is your mom still doing your laundry?

All over the counter poison ivy creams are wimps. Prescription cortisone creams can be thousands of times more powerful at reducing itching than OTC Hydrocortisone. If you get poison ivy—come and see one of us, we have lots of strong, effective and safe treatments.

The 7 day Methylprednisolone pill pack that you would get from Urgent Care is almost always too low of a steroid dose for too short of a time. The cream they would give you at urgent care is almost always too weak and the tube that the cream comes in is too small. That tube will last only a few days while the poison ivy rash can last for a couple of weeks. Worse yet the next time you can refill the tube will be a month later—Arrrrgggg. Your Dermatologist can prescribe a larger tube of stronger cortisone cream.

The best method for dealing with poison ivy and poison oak is to learn what they look like and then never touch them. Wear gloves, long sleeves and long pants.

If you do get poison ivy some things that will help are:

1: Generic Allegra 180mg or Zyrtec 10mg take 1 or 2 tablets for adults, 1 for children. By the way it takes 2.7 Claritin tablets to equal the antihistamine benefit of 1 Allegra or 1 Zyrtec. These long acting antihistamines reduce the severity of the itch all day. Taking OTC Benadryl 25mg to 50mg will reduce the itching at night and help a person sleep.

2: Over the counter hydrocortisone 1% cream or ointment can be made stronger by applying it to the rash and then wrapping plastic cling wrap over it. The plastic cling wrap will also keep your fingernails from scratching so aggressively that you break open the blisters. We don’t want your fingernail dirt and bacteria introduced into freshly broken poison ivy blisters.

3: Ice helps. Ice will cool the skin and quickly reduce the itch. Always carry some ice in your pocket when working in the yard or when hiking.

4: Call Dermatology Affiliates, tell us how itchy and miserable you are and we will get you an appointment in one of our offices in 24 to 48 hours so you can have some relief.

Wayne Emineth PA-C Dermatology

Wayne can be seen in our office.