Make Your Summer Safe From Poison Ivy

Volume 4 Issue 42

Poison ivy, also known as poison oak, is a North American shrub or vine that has compound leaves with three leaflets, small green flowers, and whitish berries. Poison sumac is a shrub typically of swampy habitats in eastern North America, having compound leaves and greenish-white berries.

Both are basically the same plant and cause itching and/or rashes in 85% of those who come into contact with these plants. If you are one of those susceptible to these plants, either plant can make any venture into the great outdoors a living nightmare for you. But you can fight back.

Avoidance is your best defense against these plants so you should know what they look like and where they are most likely found.

Some form of these plants grows almost everywhere in the United States except Alaska, Hawaii, and some parts of Nevada. The plants take on different forms in different places. Their leaves may vary from groups of three to groups of five, seven or even nine.  It is best to learn what these poisonous plants look like where you live so you can avoid them which is the best way to avoid their unpleasant effects because the culprit inside them that causes the severe blisters, itching and rashes that these plants are infamous for spreads so easily. Urushiol (pronounced oo-roo-shee-ohl) is the chemical in the sap of poison ivy, oak and sumac plants that causes the trouble.. Because urushiol is inside the plant, brushing against an intact plant will not cause a reaction. But undamaged plants are rare.

"Poison oak, ivy and sumac are very fragile plants," describes Dr. William L. Epstein, M.D., professor of dermatology, University of California, San Francisco. Stems or leaves broken by the wind or animals, and even the tiny holes made by chewing insects, can release urushiol.

Avoiding direct contact with the plants reduces the risk but doesn't guarantee you will not be a victim of these plants. Avoiding indirect contact is also needed to avoid trouble but is much harder to do.

Urushiol can stick to pets, garden tools, balls, or anything it comes in contact with. If the urushiol isn't washed off those objects or animals, just touching them--for example, picking up a ball or petting a dog--could cause a reaction. Urushiol that's rubbed off the plants onto other things can remain potent for years, depending on the environment. If the contaminated object is in a dry environment, the potency of the urushiol can last for decades. Even if the environment is warm and moist, the urushiol could still cause a reaction a year later.

So, avoiding contact may not be possible. What to do if you come into contact with urushiol. Cleanse your exposed skin with generous amounts of isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol.

Next, wash your skin with water. Water temperature does not matter so, if you're outside, it's likely only cold water will be available which is fine.

Next, take a regular shower with soap and warm water. Do not use soap before this point because soap will tend to pick up some of the urushiol from the surface of the skin and move it around. 

And, finally, wipe off with alcohol and water any clothes, shoes, tools, and anything else that may have been in contact with the urushiol.

Be sure to wear gloves or otherwise cover your hands while doing this and then discard the hand covering. Following these steps quickly may allow you to avoid the blisters, itching and/or rashes these plants are famous for giving people. If you did not react fast enough though or you are one of those so susceptible to these plants that you have an immediate reaction to them, there is still hope.

You can tell the cleaning you did was not enough when redness and swelling starts within 12 to 48 hours after exposure. Blisters and itching will follow. How do you fight the blisters and itching?

Because they don't contain urushiol, the oozing blisters are not contagious nor can the fluid cause further spread. Nevertheless, do not scratch the blisters because fingernails may carry germs that could cause an infection.

Instead, for mild cases, use wet compresses or soak in cool water. Oral antihistamines can also relieve itching. Over-the-counter topical corticosteroids (commonly called hydrocortisones under brand names such as Cortaid and Lanacort) give safe and effective temporary relief of itching associated with poison ivy.

For severe cases of itching, prescription topical corticosteroid drugs can halt the reaction, but only if treatment begins within a few hours of exposure. Severe reactions can be treated with prescription oral corticosteroids. Phillip M. Williford, M.D., assistant professor of dermatology, Wake Forest University, prescribes oral corticosteroids if the rash is on the face, genitals, or covers more than 30 percent of the body. The drug must be taken for at least 14 days, and preferably over a three-week period. Shorter courses of treatment, will cause a rebound with an even more severe rash.

To dry up the oozing blisters, there are many over the counter medications such as aluminum acetate (Burrows solution), baking soda, Aveeno (oatmeal bath), aluminum hydroxide gel, calamine, kaolin, zinc acetate, zinc carbonate and zinc oxide.

No matter what you use to fight the effects of these infamous plants, you would have been better off avoiding them and whatever the plants’ poison came into contact with. Well, scientists have created two products to help you do just that.
Both products are “barrier" creams that when applied to skin hinders absorption of urushiol into the skin. Researchers found one such barrier in 1995 commercially known as Ivy Block and other researchers found another one in 1996 sold under the brand name of Work Shield.

Ivy Block, made by Enviroderm Pharmaceuticals, is an organic clay that keeps the active itch ingredient in poison oak and ivy—urushiol—from getting to your skin. One application is good for four or five hours. Work Shield, made by Dermaron Corporation, also hinders urushiol but goes one step further by treating rashes if you get exposed to urushiol.

Both last just a few hours between treatments and have will not hinder absorption where you forget to apply them meaning that avoiding these plants entirely is still your best bet.

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