A strong corticosteroid skin cream or ointment can help with the inflammation. When it does, you’ll know it: You’ll see very red skin, swelling, and blisters, and you’ll feel a serious itch. Every part of the plant contains the compound called urushiol, which causes poison ivy’s notorious rash - the vine, the roots, the leaves, the flowers, and the berries.Ī poison ivy rash typically appears a few days after exposure, and can even take a week or two if this is your first time in contact with the plant.
Poison ivy leaves grow in clusters of three on vines that can grow up into trees or trail along the ground.
You can come into contact with it while hiking in the woods, but it grows virtually everywhere - along roadsides, on fences, in backyards. Poison ivy is found across the United States.
