Poison Ivy- Austinites Beware!

It's nearly summer, and once again, POISON IVY is growing all over down at Lady Bird Lake (formerly known as our Town Lake). There are areas where this climbing plant is well over six feet high! If you are walking or jogging with only two-legged (or wheeled) companions, it's fairly easy to avoid the plant simply by staying on the trail. However, if you have your favorite four-legged partner by your side, beware that poison ivy can be spread from your dog's fur to you! 

Poison ivy (and poison oak & sumac) all have urushiol- the poison sap- in their roots, stems and leaves. This sap can be spread by direct contact with the plant, as well as via clothing and animal fur, although human to human contact does NOT pass the toxic substance. These plants are the most common cause of contact dermatitis in the United States. Not everyone is allergic to them, but an estimated 60-80% of us do react. 

What are the symptoms? First you ITCH. Then, the itchy areas turn red and typically blister, often in lines on the skin (where a plant swiped your leg or arm). 

How soon do you break out if you are exposed? It depends how many times you have previously been exposed. The first time, you may have a gap of several days before you start itching, but each successive breakout will occur more quickly and often will be more severe. Previously sensitized people may begin itching within minutes to hours of contact. 

How do you treat it? Over-the-counter topical steroid creams (hydrocortisone) will often do the trick for mild cases. The more areas affected, the stronger the steroid you will need. For more severe cases, oral steroids are necessary, which must be prescribed by a doctor. 

How can you prevent getting poison ivy? Avoidance is key, of course. If you have a pet that has romped through poison ivy, use rubber gloves to thoroughly shampoo your animal. Any soap and water will remove urushiol from non-human surfaces. There is one product, zanfel, which is marketed to specially remove urushiol from human skin. As soon as you are aware you may have touched poison ivy, immediately wash the area with soap and water. If you remove the toxin within around 15 minutes, you may not break out. Also, please beware if you are removing poison ivy from your property- NEVER burn this plant! The inhaled smoke will do the same type of damage to your lungs that it does to the skin...not good.

BOTTOM LINE: "Leaves of Three- Let It Be"! And wash QUICKLY, including your pet- to avoid getting this dermatitis. 

PS. It's May 1st- CHANGE THOSE AIR FILTERS!

New Treatment Approved for Head Lice

Nothing makes your head itch like hearing someone has head lice! Immediately, we all cringe and reach up for a quick scratch. Who gets lice? Primarily grade school aged girls (5-11 years old). Girls that age live with their heads tightly paired up with their best friends, sharing hairbrushes, pillows, headbands and hats. Certainly boys get lice, too, and people of all ages are susceptible. In the United States alone, we have between 6-12 million cases per year!

Lice come in two flavors- head lice and pubic lice- and they do not jump from one body part to another. Head lice stick to scalps, and pubic lice attach to the coarse pubic hair, or possibly coarse underarm, mustache, or eyebrow hairs. Lice are obligate parasites, requiring humans for their life cycle. The adults are 1-3mm long (so they are visible to the naked eye.) Most often, lice are recognized by seeing nits, which are the eggs that attach to hair near the base of the shaft. They look like tiny clear or white ovals stuck on the hair, and they will not be easily detached (as opposed to flakes of dandruff, which you can flick off easily.)

Lice can be treated with a couple different over-the-counter products- Rid and Nix. These products kill the adult lice, but not the eggs, so typically treatment is repeated one week after the initial treatment. There are also special combs that help to physically remove the nits from the hair. The FDA has recently approved another lotion called Sklice, with that active ingredient being ivermectin. (You might recognize this medication from your pet, as ivermectin is used to prevent heartworm.) The apparent advantage is that only one ten minute application resolves most lice infestations without the need to remove the nits.


Is Sklice better than the products we already have? Maybe, but we don't have any head-to-head comparison studies yet (pardon the pun.) Certainly, if it reduces or eliminates the need to "nit-pick", this will represent a very significant advantage over our existing treatments.

BOTTOM LINE: If you or your child get head lice, talk to your doctor about the treatment options, including the newly approved Sklice. (Note that Sklice will not be available in pharmacies for another couple of months.)

Stop that Itch! Medicine Cabinet Staple # 5

I am focusing on what medications doctors keep in their home cabinets, and the next item on the list is not a pill, but a cream: HYDROCORTISONE cream or ointment. This is a steroid- not the pump you up/Arnold Schwarzeneggerr type steroid- this is the anti-inflammatory steroid. Grab this when you need to stop an immediate irritation on the skin, such as bug bites or poison ivy. If you've got something new, red and itchy on your skin, very likely this cream will help!
Having said that, know that there certainly are infections or other skin conditions that will not improve with steroid cream, and indeed can be made worse. Obviously, if your itchy rash is not rapidly improving, see your doctor!

This is not something to use on your face or other tender parts, however. Limit your use primarily to your extremities (arms, legs, fingers and toes) and trunk (back, chest and belly). Steroid creams are also not for long-term use, as they can cause thinning and damage to the skin if used chronically.

BOTTOM LINE: For insect bites & stings, and other new itchy "things", try some over-the-counter strength topical steroid cream.