Giant, mutant, itchier poison ivy!
Philly.com
6/9/2006
At the end of the Cuban missile crisis, so the story goes, the inventor shelved both notion and potion. But later, his wife tried it on poison ivy. It worked.
Cherry Hill's Denise Serano tried the new version on her daughter's rash. "It really helped her out a lot." As for the scars, well, they didn't get Tecnu until the rash was far along.
All sorts of other substances have been employed, from antihistamines to steroids to new poison ivy blocking creams (with sunscreen, no less) right back to the old standby immortalized in song by the Coasters: an ocean of calamine lotion.
Like anything, though, the best cure is prevention: Learn what it looks like and stay away.
"I've definitely had it enough to know that when they say 'leaves of three, let it be,' they really mean that," said Diana K. Weiner at Meadowbrook Farm in Abington.
She has her own philosophy for the rash and itch: "You can treat it with calamine and saltwater and it will take 14 days. Or you can do nothing and it will take two weeks."
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