April 16, 2018
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Save yourself a lot of suffering and learn to identify poison ivy. Our best advice is to wash all exposed skin with soap and water within 1-2 hours after doing yard work or if you think you may have been exposed. Washing the oil off your skin within 3 hours will prevent the rash for most people.
Interesting tip from this article:
“To confirm you touched poison ivy, you can try what's known as the "black dot test" — but proceed with caution! With GLOVED hands, tear the leaf in half, put the sap on a piece of white paper. If it's poison ivy, the urushiol oil will turn black in 30 minutes. This is the same reason black dots appear on some of the plants.”
Don't Touch! A Scientist's Advice For Spotting Poison Ivy Before It Ruins Your Summer
The best way to treat poison ivy is to avoid touching it in the first place. But that's tricky, given the many faces the rash-inducing plant can have.