![]() There is no way to desensitize a person to urushiol as there is with pollen and peanut allergies. Nor do you become immune to urushiol through repeated exposures to small amounts. The combination of this barrier product and protective clothing is your best defense.īut there is no scientific evidence that jewelweed, feverfew, plantain or other herbal remedies prevent or cure a urushiol-induced rash. Gardening tools, sporting equipment, even a pet that has been in a patch of poison ivy - all can cause a reaction.īefore possible exposure, use an over-the-counter skin-care product containing bentoquatam (IvyBlock) to prevent or reduce absorption of urushiol. You don’t have to touch the plant directly to react to urushiol. If you must handle the plants or are likely to contact poison ivy when gardening, wear vinyl gloves. Although long sleeves, pants and gloves can reduce the risk of exposure, they cannot guarantee protection. It likes a wet habitat, growing in peat bogs in the Northeast and Midwest and swamps in the Southeast. Poison sumac, which grows as a tall shrub or small tree, produces leaves with rows of paired leaflets and a single leaflet at the end. Poison oak, which has compound leaves made up of three (or sometimes five) leaflets, usually grows as a shrub, but will form a vine in the Western states. The vines, which turn bright red in fall, were once used to adorn buildings in England. While poison ivy is most often encountered as a small ground plant, it also grows as a shrub and vine. Knowing the facts can help to spare you and your family considerable distress.įirst, learn to recognize the plants in their various growth patterns. Myths and misconceptions abound about these three plants and the reactions they can cause. radicans has two relatives, poison oak and poison sumac, that don’t always form the classic clusters but are equally toxic troublemakers. ![]() Poison ivy is not the only problem plant one might encounter while hiking, camping or simply strolling in the countryside. Cashew shells also have the toxin, which is why cashews are sold shelled and processed (either roasted or in the case of “raw” cashews, steamed) at a temperature high enough to destroy urushiol. Urushiol shows up elsewhere, including in the skin of mangoes (and the leaves and bark of the mango tree), as I discovered when I ate a mango still in the rind and ended up with a blistering rash on my mouth. The sap is hardy and can cause a rash in the dead of winter, or even a year after contaminating clothing or shoes that are not thoroughly cleaned. Touching or brushing against any of these plant parts, even if they are dead, can cause a reaction. I also learned not to rely on the popular warning, “Leaves of three, let them be.” It is not just the leaves that can provoke a reaction the stems, roots, flowers and berries all contain urushiol. Even people repeatedly exposed who appear to be immune may react to high concentrations of the toxin. Once sensitized, your skin is likely to react to every subsequent exposure. Too late I learned that you can develop an allergic reaction to poison ivy after previously uneventful exposures, which induce a sensitivity to the plant’s oily sap, urushiol. One day I learned otherwise: On a hike, I needed to relieve myself in the great outdoors and ended up with an impossibly itchy, blistering rash on a most delicate body part. I was once among those who claim, “I could walk through a field of poison ivy and not get it.”
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