Poison Oak Treatment

If you have come in contact with poison oak, it is important to find relief in the form of a poison oak treatment or cure.

Between 24-48 hours after touching the plant, a rash will start to appear on the affected area of the skin. At first the poison oak rash will have the appearance of red bumps on the skin but as days pass the rash turn into blisters. These blisters are very, very itchy and a couple of weeks later they will be gone.

Since this is an allergic skin reaction (Rhus dermatitis), the cures consist of methods that minimize the itching and give you a greater life quality during those terrible couple of weeks. Some natural cures work for this purpose, but if you have a case of severe allergic reaction (excessive oozing and blistering) or if your mouth and nose are affected, it is of extreme importance to seek medical help.

So, the goal of a poison oak treatment should be to relieve the symptoms, let’s take a look at your best options:

Clean your skin – If you thoroughly clean your skin with rubbing alcohol 10 minutes after coming in contact with urushiol (the allergic substance found in poison oak and poison ivy), there is a chance that you won’t develop a rash. Rinse with cool water and be careful not to spread urushiol on other parts of your body.

Using cool water – This is one of the most used and effective remedies against excessive itching. If you can’t simply dip in a tub full of cold water, grab a towel or cloth and make cold compresses to apply on the affected parts of our body. Some people use this along Burow’s solution, an astringent that minimize itching. Yet another solution is to use ice cubes to rub on the skin.

Get calamine lotion – Doctors usually recommend applying calamine on the rash to provide relief. This is a perfect solution to use if you are going to be away from home or froma place where you can use cool water.

Avoid scratching – This is a tough one as the itchiness can get pretty annoying. The main danger of scratching your skin as a poison oak cure is that it can damage your skin and lead to infections.

These are some of the ways you can take care of poison oak rash. Remember that if this happens to you have to be calm and act quick to try and avoid a future rash.

A word of warning – be careful of the advice found online supposedly aimed at helping you get a poison oak treatment. When I got affected by this allergic reaction I found many people who said that using hot water was a good treatment. Nothing can be further from the truth! Hot water can produce inflammation and make things worse!