Poison Ivy Prevention Tips
A posion ivy rash is not only very bothersome, it can also be annoying and extremely itchy. You do not have to suffer from the affects of poison ivy. There are ways to prevent a poison ivy rash. I will talk about two ways you can prevent and protect youself from having the annoying poison ivy rash. The first way to prevent the rash is by protecting your skin from coming into contact with the poison ivy plant. Create a barrier between your skin and the poisonous plant. This may sound simple and obvious, but often people may miss this step of prevention. If you live in an area where you come into contact with poison ivy often, be sure to cover up your skin. When possible where long sleeve shirts, long pants, and even gloves. There are also creams that you can apply to your skin which will provide a barrier between the skin and the poison ivy. The creams contain an ingredient called bentoquatam which can protect the skin from the urushiol found in poison ivy. Urushiol is what causes the rash. The cream may not always work though, the same goes for protective clothing. Another way to prevent poison ivy rash is to be sure to wash all things that may have come into contact with the poison ivy plant. Wash all of your gardening tools, your footwear, your clothing, and even the pets that may have been with you at the time a poison ivy plant was seen. Be sure to wash your hands and fingernails as well. Preventing poison ivy rash can at times be very difficult. You may not realize you are touching something that may have previously come in contact with poison ivy. Try your best to follow the ways I have stated to protect yourself. As long as you try to prevent, and know how to prevent it, you are decreasing your chances of getting the poison ivy rash. If you try all you can to protect yourself and prevent the rash and you still end up with it, it is your best bet to seek some treatment. Sometimes even the best prevention still does not help.
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Poison Ivy Rash Guide
Over 85% of the people in the United States are allergic to poison ivy. This plant is commonly found in wooded areas where it can grow in the form of ground cover, vine or shrub. It is composed of three leaflets roughly triangular in shape . It oozes an oily resin made up of urushiol that upon contact with skin will cause itching, blisters and hive-like lesions that can leave you feeling miserable for several days.
If the plant is burned, the urushiol particles can be inhaled causing internal allergic reactions. Because it is such a common plant numerous methods of preventing and treating poison ivy have been developed over the years. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, just ask anyone who’s had a difficult bout with poison ivy or watched a loved one suffer with it.
Learning to identify the plant and making sure that your skin does not come in contact with it is far and away the best method for avoiding poison ivy. However, it is not always easy to identify and it is a remarkably fast growing, adaptable plant. This makes it difficult to avoid without remaining indoors your entire life. Since this is not an option, when going out into the woods you should were long pants and long sleeves if possible to protect the skin. However even the most cautious individuals run the risk of being exposed to poison ivy. Upon contact the resin will bind with the skin in less then five minutes. Once you realize you’ve come into contact with the irritating resin there are ways of minimizing the damage.
The area should be immediately washed with soap and water to remove the urushiol that causes the allergic reaction. Cool water is better then a hot shower because the hot water will open up the pores allowing for deeper penetration of the irritant. There are a number of products sold over the counter that help shorten the time it takes to heal from poison ivy outbreaks and ease the symptoms. Home remedies include tea bags and aloe vera to sooth the itch caused by infection. However, no cure all has been found and seems that for the most part, once infected, the best treatment is time.
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Poison Ivy Prevention
Over 85% of the people in the United States are allergic to poison ivy. This plant is commonly found in wooded areas where it can grow in the form of ground cover, vine or shrub. It is composed of three leaflets roughly triangular in shape . It oozes an oily resin made up of urushiol that upon contact with skin will cause itching, blisters and hive-like lesions that can leave you feeling miserable for several days. If the plant is burned, the urushiol particles can be inhaled causing internal allergic reactions.
Because it is such a common plant numerous methods of preventing and treating poison ivy have been developed over the years. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, just ask anyone who’s had a difficult bout with poison ivy or watched a loved one suffer with it. Learning to identify the plant and making sure that your skin does not come in contact with it is far and away the best method for avoiding poison ivy. However, it is not always easy to identify and it is a remarkably fast growing, adaptable plant. This makes it difficult to avoid without remaining indoors your entire life. Since this is not an option, when going out into the woods you should were long pants and long sleeves if possible to protect the skin.
However even the most cautious individuals run the risk of being exposed to poison ivy. Upon contact the resin will bind with the skin in less then five minutes. Once you realize you’ve come into contact with the irritating resin there are ways of minimizing the damage. The area should be immediately washed with soap and water to remove the urushiol that causes the allergic reaction. Cool water is better then a hot shower because the hot water will open up the pores allowing for deeper penetration of the irritant. There are a number of products sold over the counter that help shorten the time it takes to heal from poison ivy outbreaks and ease the symptoms. Home remedies include tea bags and aloe vera to sooth the itch caused by infection. However, no cure all has been found and seems that for the most part, once infected, the best treatment is time.
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