Avoiding Poison Ivy

Posted on December 18th, 2011 by sa

A common plant throughout the continental United States, poison ivy’s leaves are covered with an oily resin, which is known as urushiol. A poison ivy treatment is not very complicated. If you are exposed, according to the FDA, you should quickly (within 10 minutes):
• first, cleanse exposed areas with rubbing alcohol.
• next, wash the exposed areas with water only (no soap yet, since soap can move the urushiol, which is the oil from the poison ivy that triggers the rash, around your body and actually make the reaction worse).
You can get the oil on your skin by:
• Touching the poison ivy plant
• Touching any pets that have been around poison ivy and have gotten the oil on their hair.
• Burning the poison ivy plant. The oil from the plant is carried in the smoke.

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