Hi Teri -
Washing with soap and plenty of water and using rubbing alcohol should remove any unbonded urushiol oil. The problem is that urushiol oil can bond in 3 minutes or so to the skin setting off the chain of events that leads to the allergic reaction (rash). Unlike many of allergens, urushiol oil from poison ivy causes a delayed reaction so many times folks don't know they've been exposed until its too late. By removing any unbonded urushiol oil, you've gone a long way to keeping the outbreak to a minimum. Interestingly, a number of websites as well as commercial products will pronounce that the oil does not bond for 30 minutes or even longer. Based on what I've read, the major factors for bonding are amount of urushiol oil on the skin, thickness of the skin, and oils present on the skin (your natural protective "coating"). Here are a few websites which quote the 3 minute mark:
A large number of medical websites quoted 5 to 10 minutes. Personally - I've washed within the 5 minute mark after contact and still had an outbreak. So - the point of all this is that once the rash comes, you've got it. You've done a good job to keep the rash to a minimum but there is little left to do but let it run its course.
The best treatment now is to 1) don't scratch the itch 2) don't stress about the rash 3) keep the rash clean and dry to promote healing.
The best future preventive measures are to make sure you know what the plants look like, wear good protective clothing when working in an area with poison ivy, consider using a product like IvyBlock to help prevent the urushiol oil from bonding to the skin (forms a protective barrier). |
