How Long Does Poison Ivy Last

Poison Ivy is basically a mounting species of plants (Toxicordendron Radicans) belonging to the family of cashew that is particularly communal in the central and eastern parts of United States of America. Poison Ivy has greenish flowers, white berries and ternate leaves which yield an intensely irritating oil which causes an unusually penetrating itching and forms rashes on the skin when gets into contact. Poison ivy is comparatively a very toxic plant which gives off fluids that cause skin problems when in contact. These plans are mostly found in dry areas with vast dry lands or mountains. The main location of finding these plants is the dry lands of United States.

Normally while going through these areas people get in contact with poison ivy plants which end up giving them skin itches and rashes of different levels of severity. Such contacts with these plants always scare people as skin issues are very sensitive and they can’t help but as how long does poison ivy last? The answer to this question, as to the time span of getting rid of the poison ivy rashes or side effects completely depends on the treatment and the severity of the itching and the rashes.

The most commonly believed fact that the itching and the scratching of a poison ivy, or of its oak and sumac rash would end up becoming contagious and spread throughout the body is merely a myth and is absolutely untrue. If a person had urushiol residue on his or her finger or under the finger nails, then only the spreading can occur but chances of that happening are very vague and a very few cases have come in consideration. Nevertheless, as said that excess of anything results in endless possibilities of things going wrong proves that continuous scratching is not a good idea as it would break the skin, attract more germs and definitely lead to a potentially strong and nasty infection. With such vague possibilities of poison ivy being contagious; the question how long does a poison ivy last stays intact nonetheless.

For the poison ivy’s severe rashes, proper medical treatment is a must. This will only determine how long does poison ivy last. The physician may advice you to take the hospital’s medicines or some other medicines as well depending on how severe the rash is. The poison ivy rashes, scratches and side effects can take months to heal of you avoid getting a proper treatment in this regard. Taking cook aveno baths with rubbing alcohol and putting something on it to make it dry and keep it from excessive scratching can speed up the healing process and may heal the itching quite rapidly too.

To heal swiftly it is advised to take some Hydrocortisone Epson salt and Benadryl baths too but also keeping in mind that these baths must not be very high in temperature as that will cause friction in the germs, make the bacteria grow, spread the infection and make it a worst skin nightmare for you. For very severe rashes corticosteroids injection might be required. In order to get rid of this infection and itching and for you to get the answer of the question that how long does poison ivy last you much closely follow the entire treatment and the skin therapy must be completed. While there is no concrete answer to how long does poison ivy last we can say that it is important that you go see a doctor when he rash continues to develop and does not stop with medication.