How to Get Rid of Poison Oak Rash
Rinse off your skin., Avoid touching anything., Change your clothes., Avoid itching.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Rinse off your skin.
The first thing you need to do when you are exposed to poison oak is rinse off any exposed skin.
Use soap and warm water as soon as possible, ideally within 30 minutes of your exposure.If you are still in the woods away from a bathroom, look for a nearby stream and rinse your skin.
This will get rid of any urushiol (the substance that triggers an allergic reaction) left of your skin, which will help reduce irritation.
If you don't have any water, you can use rubbing alcohol or lemon juice over the rash as well.
This will help remove the urushiol. -
Step 2: Avoid touching anything.
Once you know you have been exposed, you should limit who and what you touch until you have a chance to rinse off.
Poison oak is not contagious unless you still have urushiol on your skin, so you can touch people and objects once you wash your skin off properly., Urushiol can be spread from your clothes, which can spread the rash over your body as well as to other people.
To prevent this, remove any clothes you had on when you were exposed that can be removed.
Once you remove your clothes, wash them according to their tag instructions to remove any urushiol on them.
Just to be safe, wash them in a load by themselves to ensure no cross contamination.
You should also wash off any tools or other objects that might have come into contact with the plant or your skin after you were exposed., You can transfer the rash across your body if you scratch too much while the urishiol is on your skin.
Once the urishiol is washed off your skin, you are no longer in jeopardy of spreading the rash across your skin, so you can touch your skin normally.Although you cannot make the rash spread after you get the urushiol off your skin, you can irritate the rash and cause skin damage.
Try to avoid itching any portion of the rash, even if it itches badly, to ensure that your rash heals as fast as possible. -
Step 3: Change your clothes.
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Step 4: Avoid itching.
Detailed Guide
The first thing you need to do when you are exposed to poison oak is rinse off any exposed skin.
Use soap and warm water as soon as possible, ideally within 30 minutes of your exposure.If you are still in the woods away from a bathroom, look for a nearby stream and rinse your skin.
This will get rid of any urushiol (the substance that triggers an allergic reaction) left of your skin, which will help reduce irritation.
If you don't have any water, you can use rubbing alcohol or lemon juice over the rash as well.
This will help remove the urushiol.
Once you know you have been exposed, you should limit who and what you touch until you have a chance to rinse off.
Poison oak is not contagious unless you still have urushiol on your skin, so you can touch people and objects once you wash your skin off properly., Urushiol can be spread from your clothes, which can spread the rash over your body as well as to other people.
To prevent this, remove any clothes you had on when you were exposed that can be removed.
Once you remove your clothes, wash them according to their tag instructions to remove any urushiol on them.
Just to be safe, wash them in a load by themselves to ensure no cross contamination.
You should also wash off any tools or other objects that might have come into contact with the plant or your skin after you were exposed., You can transfer the rash across your body if you scratch too much while the urishiol is on your skin.
Once the urishiol is washed off your skin, you are no longer in jeopardy of spreading the rash across your skin, so you can touch your skin normally.Although you cannot make the rash spread after you get the urushiol off your skin, you can irritate the rash and cause skin damage.
Try to avoid itching any portion of the rash, even if it itches badly, to ensure that your rash heals as fast as possible.
About the Author
Danielle Garcia
Enthusiastic about teaching lifestyle techniques through clear, step-by-step guides.
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