I get poison ivy almost every time that I do yard work around our house. It mostly shows up on my forearms and/or ankles. I have seen the doctor on several occasions but the cost is adding up. Why pay $15 copay plus a few dollars for a Prednisone prescription when I can hopefully solve the problem myself.
Someone told me a while back about using a 1:1 bleach and water mixture to dry up poison ivy blisters. This morning, I googled "
poison ivy bleach" and came up with mixed results. Some people said that it works, some said that it didn't. The worst post that I read said that it got into the person's blood stream and they ended up getting poison ivy blisters all over their body and they had to see a dermatologist. I'm not sure how likely that one is.
The people that are in favor of the bleach remedy suggest the 1:1 dilution. The people opposed don't mention anything about the dilution. Maybe a full-strength treatment is a bit harsh. Either way, my arms were itching this morning and I just happen to have a bottle of 1:1 solution in the basement.
I dabbed it onto my forearms with cotton balls. I wiped it on pretty generously over the affected area and kept my arms away from my t-shirt for about 30 minutes while it dried. The only thing worse than a possible bleach poisoning is to also have a bleached t-shirt.
It has been a little over 2 hours since I applied the bleach and I've had no itching so far. I will apply it again tonight and then continue twice a day until it goes away. The people that are in favor of the bleach solution say that it takes about 2 days to go away.
I'll keep you updated on my results.
UPDATE 6/23/2010:
It has been 6 days since I started using the bleach mixture on my poison ivy. Here is what I have found.
The 1:1 bleach & water solution stops itching immediately and lasts for about half a day. I have used calamine lotion before but haven't been happy with the results. Calamine leaves your skin with a dry crusty residue. The bleach does not. I thought the smell would be worse, but it hasn't. It's best to apply it before putting on any nice clothing in case it makes contact with fabric before drying. I applied it when I got out of the shower and it only takes a few minutes to dry.
Some people have posted online that the bleach solution "dries up poison ivy blisters in two days". I did not experiance that great of luck. They're still there, but not as noticable. The itching was only bad enough for me to use the bleach for a few days. If I stuck with it longer, the blisters may be gone by now. On the plus side, I didn't run into any troubles with the bleach getting into my bloodstream as some people claimed that it would. The poison ivy has not spread since I started using the bleach.
My recommendation is that if you have the time and don't mind paying the copay, go to a doctor and get a prednisone prescription. If your schedule is full, you're tight on cash or the poison ivy isn't very severe, I would say go with the diluted bleach solution.
Of course, I am in no way a doctor and do not claim to have a medical background. These are just my observations and I cannot be held responsible if you have any sort of negative effect from applying bleach to poison ivy.
