How to FIX Poison Ivy FAST? What Does Poison Ivy Rash Look Like? A Doctor Explains

[00:00:00]Today we are talking about something that affects millions of Americans every single year. Yes, and that is the topic of poison ivy. That's right. I'm going to tell you a lot of stuff you need to know. So first of all, I need you to watch to the end of the video because we're going to talk about what poison ivy actually is, what causes that sort of crazy irritating itchy rash, what the symptoms look like so you can recognize it, how to treat it which I know you really want to know about, and then I'm also going to answer a question that I get asked all the time which is is poison ivy contagious? So let's jump in.

[00:00:36]Guys, I'm Dr. Jen Caudle. It is good to see you. Poison ivy, what is it? Well, it's a plant, okay? And this plant tends to grow in a number of places. It grows in the United States, it grows in Canada, it grows in Mexico, and it belongs to a family of plants called, get this, toxicodendron.

[00:00:54]Toxicodendron. Toxico toxic.

[00:00:56]>> [laughter] >> Uh literally that word means poison tree, okay? And that's going to give you an idea of Well, you know why it's called that. It's [snorts] cousins are poison oak and poison sumac and they all cause the same type of reaction. Take a look at this so you can just kind of see some of the differences, some of the similarities between these three plants that can really all cause an allergic reaction. You probably heard the old saying, "Leaves of three, leave them be." And why do we say that? say that because poison ivy typically has clusters of three pointed leaves. That's one thing you should know. So if you like to hike or be outdoors and things like that, please know that three pointed leaves could be poison ivy. It can grow as a vine climbing up a tree.

[00:01:38]It can be a shrub even as ground cover and honestly, you know, it sometimes can be tricky to spot. I have patients that come in every year with a rash that ends up being poison ivy and they had no idea they they were around poison ivy in their garden or whatever. So it can be tricky. But the key thing to know is that every part of this plant, poison ivy, the leaves, the stems, the roots, even the berries contain an oily substance called urushiol.

[00:02:03]Now, urushiol is the real villain of this story, okay? This is where the problem lies, okay? So, what actually happens is when your skin touches any part of the poison ivy plant, that oil, urushiol, binds to your skin almost instantly.

[00:02:18]What happens is your immune system's like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, like what is going on?" It recognizes urushiol as a foreign invader and it launches an allergic response. We call this allergic contact dermatitis.

[00:02:30]So, your body is kind of thinking this is invader, something bad, and it launches this allergic response. And the skin becomes inflamed because our immune system is overreacting to this oil.

[00:02:41]Here's something I think that's really interesting is that, you know, not everybody reacts the same way.

[00:02:46]Interestingly enough, about 50 to 75% of people are sensitive to urushiol, but if you are sensitive, even a tiny amount of the oil can trigger reaction. And urushiol is incredibly sticky and long-lasting. It can stay on your clothing, it can stay on your boots, it can stay on your pet's fur. It can stay on your clothes, your gardening tools, other surfaces for a long time. So, that's why what we are going to talk about, the prevention and the treatment and all that kind of stuff is super, super important. And it's also why you don't actually have to touch the plant directly to get poison ivy, right? Cuz all you have to do is be in contact with that oil. You can get poison ivy from touching a pair of gloves that has that oil on it, or petting a dog that has a you know, a dog that ran through a patch of poison ivy. You should never burn poison ivy, okay? Because the thing about that urushiol, told you this was the villain, I wasn't wrong, right? This urushiol can get into the smoke and um you can inhale it. If you do, it can cause serious a serious reaction in your lungs and airways. Now, let's talk about this poison ivy rash, what you need to do, what's going on. Usually the rash, I would say, shows up like within 12 to 72 hours after your skin contacts the oil.

[00:03:59]Um often times first of all, you'll notice like a redness and intense itching. Oh boy, is this rash itchy. And then [snorts] you see raised bumps, okay? And if it's more severe than that, you can see what we call fluid-filled blisters. Now, the rash often appears like in streaks or lines. Uh often it follows the pattern of how the the sort of the oil or the plant brushes against your skin. So, it often seems kind of like in line patterns. The severity can range, right? It depends like how severe your rash is depends on like how much of that urushiol oil got on your skin, how long it stayed there before you wash it off, and also your body, how your body reacts to things. So, now you got the rash. What are you going to do? Well, first thing you want to do is you want to wash the oil off your skin as soon as possible. This is super important.

[00:04:49]Please wash with soap and water immediately after contact because you want to try to remove as much of that urushiol as you possibly can, okay?

[00:04:58]Uh the thing is the clock is ticking because after just 10 minutes, you can only remove about half of it. And after 30 minutes, only about 10% of it. So, speed really matters here. You want to get to it as quickly as possible. Soap, some cool water, any soap will do.

[00:05:11]Dishwashing, all that kind of stuff is is just fine. The other thing is don't forget to wash everything else that the oil might have touched. Your clothes, um your any gloves you're using for gardening, your shoes, um your pets' fur, your pet, okay? Your gardening tools, things like that. Now, for the rash itself. Uh if you have like a small area of poison ivy, you can try sort of supportive care, things like cool compresses and even oatmeal baths to kind of soothe the itch and kind of soothe that feeling of in your skin.

[00:05:41]Calamine lotion can also help, okay?

[00:05:42]That's something that I mean, I used when I was a kid, my mom used it on me.

[00:05:46]It's something that still works well for a lot of things.

[00:05:49]You know, hydrocortisone, the over-the-counter type, often times people use it, but honestly, it doesn't always work that well because of the low strength that it is, okay?

[00:05:59]>> [snorts] >> The drugstore type of hydrocortisone tends to be a much lower strength than the prescription type, and often it just doesn't help as much as it needs to. Um many people who need hydrocortisone will need a prescription strength steroid cream to make a difference. You want to talk to your doctor. Now, [snorts] for really severe cases, like if the rash covers a large part of your body, it's, you know, your face, like just if it's kind of crazy, I will prescribe um steroids, oral steroids, okay? So, hydrocortisone is a steroid hydrocortisone like steroid cream, but you may need steroids by mouth if the rash is like all over super bad, okay?

[00:06:34]Uh and usually it's the course of the steroids is over a couple of weeks because we have to make sure the dose is high enough and that we taper it slowly enough so that the rash doesn't come back or rebound, which it can if we don't treat you long enough. So, just as a quick recap, if it's a small area, you can do like oatmeal baths, cool compresses, uh calamine lotion, things like that. If it's more and you need a steroid cream, you may want to call your doctor for a prescription steroid cream.

[00:06:59]But if it's super bad, we're talking oral steroids for many people. Benadryl, the evidence is not great for Benadryl, um but it may help you sleep if the itching is keeping you up at night. Of course, talk to your doctor if that's even okay for you to take because that's not okay for everyone, okay? Now, let's get to the one thing I think you may be wondering about, which is is poison ivy contagious? And by the way, I did a segment on the Today show about this.

[00:07:21]Take a look at this clip.

[00:07:23]>> This is the thing, it's the oil. What makes us allergic and get the rash is the oil on the leaves of poison ivy. You can get that oil on different parts of your body. Anywhere the oil touches on your body can give you the rash. But touching somebody with the rash is not going to give it to >> If it wasn't clear from that segment, let me be clear, poison ivy, the poison ivy rash is not contagious. Uh you cannot catch it from another person. You can't get it by touching their rash. The fluid inside those blisters does not contain the urushiol oil, and that's remember what the culprit is.

[00:07:54]Uh so, if a blister pops and things like that, it's not going to spread the rash.

[00:07:57]Now, uh the only way to kind of get the rash, the poison ivy rash, is to come in contact with urushiol, right? That oil.

[00:08:05]>> [snorts] >> So, if you do touch someone else's clothing or other things, and they do have that urushiol oil on their skin or clothing, and you touch it, yeah, it's possible to get poison ivy, but you're getting it from the oil, you're not getting it from someone else's poison ivy rash. And I think that's super important. So, there you have it. Uh poison ivy in a nutshell. Let me know what you do for poison ivy. Have you ever gotten it? What have you done for it? Write in the comments. Please share this video with other people who may benefit from. I'm Dr. Jen Caudle, practicing family physician, on-air health expert, and video creator. Please subscribe to my channel. Click the little bell for updates. Also, please uh follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, all the things. I'm there. And sign up for my free health newsletter at drjencaudle.com.