How to identify poison ivy and ways to help prevent getting a rash if you come in contact with it. Photos of real poison ivy plants included!
I spent the better part of my childhood running around in the woods.
Not that I was raised by a pack of wolves or anything (although in my teenage years I may have thought otherwise). Just your normal climbing trees. Fishing. Camping. You name it.
My brother used to get poison ivy all the time. But I managed to stay poison ivy free.
Of course, I used to sort of brag about being far superior to my brother. Like I was above all that silly poison ivy stuff and all that.
Then all of a sudden, when we moved into this house ten years ago, I started to be affected by it. Oh, no!
The first year it was just a few tiny pin sized spots on my arm. I didn't even associate it with poison ivy, just assumed I was mildly irritated by something.
The next year it was a whole 'nother story!
One day I casually weeded a flower bed out by the road. I remember seeing a questionable plant, but I was immune to that stuff, so I didn't give it its due respect. Big mistake.
Bada bing, bada boom. A few days latter I noticed the tiny raised spots. Then they started itching. I obliged them.
Over the next few days it just got worse and worse. The tiny spots turned into raging blisters and next thing I knew I had blisters on top of blisters on top of blisters.
My reign as Little Miss Immune To Poison Ivy was over.
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The story ends with me having to go to the doctor and get some steroids and a drying agent (Domeboro Astringent Powder, sold at the pharmacy) to finally kick it out of my system. This was after weeks of me trying to treat it myself and finally coming to the realization that my arm might just fall off if I didn't seek some professional help.
Why now and not when I was a kid? Who knows?
There are different theories why some people wait until later in life to be affected. Maybe I had been immune and I lost my immunity. Maybe I just had to have a lot of exposure for it to pop out. Maybe it was the number of years between exposures.
I mean, it's been at least 25 years since I've climbed a tree.
Since the Summer Of The Itch, there are some things I have learned about the dreaded poison ivy.
Probably the 1st thing you need to know about poison ivy is how to identify the plant.
How To Identify Poison Ivy:
- Leaves of three, let it be. It rhymes. It works.
- Unfortunately (or fortunately?) there are other plants with three leaves also that are perfectly harmless. If you just go with that rhyme, you are missing out on our other three leaved friends. So read on.
- The middle leaf is normally on a longer stem than the other two.
- The outer two resemble mittens.
- The veins that run across the leaf are non-symmetrical (not directly across from each other).
- The sets of leaves on a vine are non-symmetrical (not directly across from each other). In the photo below you can see a set of three leaves go to the right and then above it a set of three leaves go to the left and so on - they do not meet in the middle.
- The leaves have pointed ends, not round.
Now that you know what it looks like, it's time to discuss how you can avoid getting a poison ivy rash.
How To Prevent Poison Ivy:
- Know what poison ivy looks like. You've got that covered!
- Always wear gloves when weeding.
- Wear long clothing covering your legs and arms. Better to be a little warm, than walk away with a case of poison ivy rash on your ankles.
- Be very careful when taking off your gloves. I sort of peel them off like a doctor does, making sure not to touch my wrists when taking off the opposite hand's glove.
- As soon as you come in from weeding, run cold water over your arms from the elbows to your fingertips. Never use hot water, always use cold water which will keep your pores closed and slow the absorption of the oil if it is present.
- As a preventative, after rinsing with the cold water, follow up with washing your entire arms with poison ivy soap using COLD water again. I used to recommend Burt's Bees' Poison Ivy Soap, but they have stopped manufacturing that (no idea why because that was great stuff). Grandma's Poison Ivy And Oak Bar is a very good alternative. Regular old soap is not enough.
- After doing this routine, where I assume I may have come in contact with poison ivy while weeding, I have not had any more poison ivy rashes. Better to take an extra minute to thoroughly wash up rather than spend the next month itching and scratching.
So let's say you thought you had stayed away from the poison ivy, but you still ended up with a case of poison ivy rash, here's how to treat it.
How To Treat Poison Ivy:
- If you think you've been exposed to poison ivy, wash all areas of your body with cold water and a poison ivy soap, Fell Naptha or Dawn dish soap. A good poison ivy soap like Grandma's Poison Ivy And Oak Bar is the 1st choice, but if you don't have it on hand try one of the other soaps.
- The quicker you get the urushiol oil off your skin the better, so if you are certain you have been in contact with poison ivy do not delay in rinsing it off.
- Launder all clothing that may have come in contact with the poison ivy in a load by itself to avoid re-exposing yourself to the urushiol oil in the future.
- Use rubbing-alcohol to clean off all pruning shears or other tools that you were using as the oil can stick to them. And the last thing you want is to pick up your pruning shears two months from now and start a whole new batch of poison ivy rash on your hands.
- The rash doesn't normally show up for 12-72 hours AFTER contact with the oil. It will start as little pin prick size blisters and get larger from there.
- Use Domeboro Astringent Powder, sold at the pharmacy or Amazon to soak or make a cold compress for your rash. It will dry up the rash, reduce itching and calm the inflammation.
- Antihistamines may relieve some of the itching, but please consult a doctor if you don't normally take them.
- The tips I am giving you are for your run of the mill case of poison ivy. If your rash gets totally out of control, is in your eyes or mouth, covers a large part of your body or God forbid, you ingested some poison ivy, please go to the nearest Emergency Room.
BTW, are you wondering how I got those cool photos with the black background?
Snack, anyone?
Yes, I cut a piece of poison ivy and placed it on my chalkboard tray. Another case of not giving poison ivy its due respect. It's been two days since I took those photos, so I think I'm in the clear on this case of stupidity.
Is poison ivy a problem for you? Or can you roll around in it naked and come out OK?
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Debbiedoos
We are loaded with that stuff around here. My boys nor I, or my husband have never had it either. Of course, now that I said that....kinda like when I was in Buffalo bragging how my Keurig is going on 3 years old and still works great. When we got home, it stopped working LOL!! These are great tips Pam.
Anonymous
I have lots of poisen ivy in the woods, and four lively cats that bring it to me. I always wear gloves while working in the yard, but the cats are playing in the ivy.
Anonymous
I have a puppy and a corner of our yard has lots of poison ivy... any ideas on how to keep the kids safe from the oils on her fur? I don't want to bathe the dog every time she goes outside!
Pam Kessler
Wow, that's a tough one. I think you're just going to have to try to get rid of the poison ivy, because you're probably not going to keep it off the dog. Roundup has a poison ivy spray now that you can buy at Lowes or Home Depot. I've heard good things about it, but I haven't tried it myself yet. It's the special Roundup for poison ivy, not the regular version. If I buy some and try it out, I'll let you know how it works.
Anonymous
Actually if you, can get a goat they love eating poison Ivy, sumac and oak just make sure it isn't the only thing in their diet.
TARYTERRE
Great public service message.
Shabby chic Sandy
I have never had Poison Ivy---but now that I said that I will probably get it and come back and read this post again 🙂
Alice Wingerden
Thanks for this! I have never really know what to be on the lookout for in terms of poison ivy so this is so helpful! Especially with having two young kids who love to roam the woods in our backyard!
Anonymous
get the nasty if I get around ,not touch it!! I got it one year in Jan. went to my DR. she said I had gotten it from touching firewood!! She told me to wash my hands and arms with blue Dawn dish liquid everytime I was around firewood or knew that I had been around the nasty stuff!!It has really helped me!!
Anonymous
Thank you for the thorough description. I have some suspicious plants. I have been unable to get clear enough description for a year. I really think this will help.
Doreen
My husband and I moved into a new home in March and we cleared out some debris in the back yard. We came down with a very bad infection that we found out was poison ivy. There was no leaves, just vines and stalks so we did not recognize it as poison ivy. I finally had to go to the hospital to get steroids and use prescription cream but it took over six weeks to go away. Your article is excellent and I thank you for the clear picture as well as the precise details. But let everyone know that the bare vines can also cause a lot of misery.
Debbie
Wish I would have seen this last week. I have poison ivy for the first time in my life. Great article.
The Kitten Kitchen
Same thing happened to me! My brother always got poison ivy when we were younger, but it never affected me. Fast forward to last year after cutting the grass, and I got it all over my face. I told the doctor there was no way that it was poison ivy because I never got it as a kid. He set me straight. Now I watch out for that devil plant every time I'm in the yard. Ha ha! This is a great, helpful article! Thanks!
Anonymous
My husband is the one who seems to get it the worst, but here is something important someone put it in our fire pit and my husband burned it well to the ER the next morning his eyes and face became distorted from the swelling I don't think the DR ever saw it like that and didn't do anything we used the soap, Benadryl and it lasted weeks. He looked like a monster so people don't burn it unless there is a way that some else knows but I feel he is lucky he didn't inhale it. And we won't go back to that ER AGAIN
Jane@Cottage at the Crossroads
What an informative article, Pam! I'm so glad that many of your commentors mentioned not burning the stuff! I'll have to pick up some of that soap you mentioned.
Dana Dobias
Years ago I was given a recipe for cleaning tools and skin after Poison ivy exposure: 5 oz rubbing alcohol, 5 oz water; 1 oz 5% bleach. Also, my son's pediatrician told me you have about 15 minutes from exposure to get it off before you are likely to have a reaction. He also said people have different lifetime tolerances and if you are able to bare-hand it now you eventually will hit the lifetime limit and start to have reactions. (His grandmother was always able to bare-hand poison ivy until she started to have reactions when she was in her 80s). As for what I personally use; if cleaning with the above recipe missed some sap that I came in contact with, I keep Diprolene (Betamethasone Dipropionate) ointment on hand. It is prescription, but many doctors will prescribe it for people that are likely to comeinto repeated contact with poison ivy (i.e. gardeners).
Debbie
i never knew there was poison ivy soap...sounds great. We have vines of poison ivy that are over an inch thick growing up trees, It looks like Boston creeper so be careful folks.
Jimmie
I too was immune poison ivy but the picture you have looks like poison sumac. I am very allergic to that. I have been to the doctor many times, once after only coming within 6 feet of it. I was cleaning the kids pool out by the fence and BOOM next day !@#$%^&*()! I once heard a landscaper tell me to bite a leaf and it would immunize me...ah NO! It is also very hard to get rid of. I fight it a spray of one gallon of vinegar and a cup of salt spray. It helps but the roots travel under ground and are not affected so it will return. Hope this helps some of you.
Jennifer
Is there any kind of weed killer that you can use on it to kill it without having to actually physically remove it? I'm just finishing up with a pretty good bout of it. I usually wear gloves, wash etc and the one time I forget....,,
Pam
Sorry you had to go through that! I'm starting to itch just thinking about it! I used Scott's Roundup Poison Ivy Plus Tough Brush Killer last year and had luck with that. Sort of. It kills it right in that spot, but I swear it pops back up a few feet over. Ortho has a poison ivy formula too. You should be able to find both at your local hardware, Home Depot or Lowe's. Hope you feel better soon!
Jud
Please, people, do not use RoundUp! Very bad stuff! Look it up and find a better way
Gerri
Unfortunately Poison Ivy is an allergy that can bother you any time in life. I used to literally roll in the stuff when I was at Brownie & Girl Scout camp growing up. First allergic attack wasn't till I was almost 30. This may go against some peoples desire to not use weed killers but you have to for this. Please don't burn the plants...a warning my husband and I received from my doctor years ago,,, the smoke carries the poison and you canget it that way, esp your face and eyes.
My Dad was a firm believer in the old brown soap, we always washed our hands and arms with it or Fels Napha soap. Definetly wear gloves when I garden, wash with cool water and lots of soap, almost to my armpits then rinse well, Bet Blue Dawn is a good choice, it's good for a lot of things.
Cindy
I'm another case of adult onset allergy to this plant. Maybe it's because my father was extremely allergic to it. Who knows. I stay away from it as much as possible. Thank you for the pictures. One thing about poison ivy...it won't kill you even If you feel like you're on fire.