Can you pop poison ivy blisters

Poison ivy grows. It grows as a low ground cover or climbs as a vine, using trees and poles to support it. The leaves, stems, and roots of the plant contain the clear, odorless oil, called urishiol, that causes the skin reaction. When you brush by the leaves or break the vine, the oil comes in contact with your skin.

You scratch your elbow, wipe the sweat from your face, roll up your sleeves, and each time, you move a little bit of poison ivy oil around your body. Poison ivy oil spreads around the same way. Ultimately, you wash the oil off your skin, but often not before your body has noticed the urishiol and starts sending immune cells to fight it.

A couple of days later, your skin begins to itch, and you notice some small blisters filled with clear fluid. And here is where some common myths about poison ivy begin. Myth 1 : You can spread poison ivy to other places on your body or to other people by touching the rash, especially the fluid inside the blisters. In fact, that fluid is made of cells from your own body- immune cells- not the urishiol that causes the rash.

The rash itself is not contagious at all. It comes out first in places where the skin is thin, like the undersides of the wrists and between the fingers. Even if blisters break, the fluid in the blisters is not plant oil and cannot further spread the rash.

Bacteria from under your fingernails can get into them and cause an infection. The rash, blisters, and itch normally disappear in several weeks without any treatment. While the poison ivy rash itself does not spread and is not contagious, if other parts of your skin come in contact with the oil, a new rash will develop.

As the rash blossoms, you may experience itching, redness, swelling, blistering, and crusting skin after the blisters burst. One of the toughest realities of poison ivy is that you can get it from touching something that the oil is on, without ever touching the plant.

Shared sporting equipment, a family pet that has been running in the woods, or a gardening tool can all transmit the oil to your skin… and set you up for a fortnight of misery.

For many people, the rash will dissipate on its own, and no further treatment is necessary. That is of cold comfort for anyone who has ever had pus-filled blisters between their toes or under their wedding ring… You can use calamine lotion for some cooling and itching relief.