DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Please write about poison ivy treatment. Lately, two friends have used bleach to treat poison ivy. I think this is harmful. It seems to be a common folk remedy. — Anon.

ANSWER: The rash of poison ivy is an allergic reaction caused by urushiol found in the plant’s sap. All parts of the poison ivy plant — roots, stems, leaves — contain it. First exposure to poison ivy and its sap produces no reaction, but it stimulates the production of antibodies against the sap. Second exposure triggers the allergy that results in patches of redness and blisters on skin touched by sap. The rash appears around 12 to 14 hours after exposure. It can persist for three to four weeks. It is quite itchy.

The best preventive for poison ivy is learning what the plant looks like. Word descriptions are lost on me. Seeing a picture of it fixes it in the mind. You can find such pictures in any encyclopedia or on the Internet.

If you have come in contact with poison ivy, wash your skin as soon as possible. If you wait longer than 10 minutes, only 50 percent of the sap is removed. None is removed if the wait is longer than an hour.

Cold, wet compresses, left on the skin for 15 to 30 minutes, several times a day, are soothing. Calamine lotion works, as do cortisone creams and lotions. If large areas of skin have come in contact with the sap, baths with colloidal oatmeal (Aveeno) control itching. Antihistamines also are helpful. Don’t use bleach. It’s an irritant, and can harm the skin.

Clothing should be washed, and shoes and boots cleaned.

If the outbreak is severe, a doctor consultation is required. Oral cortisone (prednisone) is generally prescribed.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: What causes warts? I have several on my fingers and would like to get rid of them. I tried a wart remover that I purchased at a drugstore. It didn’t work too well. How did I get them? Could I have gotten them from gardening, which I did recently? — B.M.

ANSWER: Papillomaviruses cause warts. The virus is transferred from one person to another. You didn’t pick it up from gardening. You don’t get it from pets.

Patience often cures warts. Spontaneous cures occur frequently, but the waiting period can be from one to five years.

Look at the label of your wart remover to see if it contains salicylic acid. It’s usually effective, but more than one application is necessary. It can take three months before you see results.

Duct tape might work for you. First soak the warts in warm water. Then lightly rub them with an emery board or pumice stone (both drugstore items). Cover the warts with duct tape and leave it on for six days. Remove and repeat the soaking and rubbing, and reapply the tape. It can take two months of this routine before the warts go.

Your doctor can rid you of warts more quickly by freezing them off.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I had surgery for cataract removal. The next morning, when the eye patch was removed, my eye was bloodshot, and I could not see very well. Soon the haze disappeared, and my vision was better.

Is a bloodshot eye common after surgery? Can it be avoided? How does the blood exit the eye? Does it increase eye pressure? — D.A.

ANSWER: The conjunctiva covers the eye. It’s a clear, cellophanelike wrapping. A bloodshot eye is blood under the conjunctiva. Small, delicate blood vessels lie beneath it. They often break during surgery. They break from sneezing, coughing or just spontaneously, too. The blood is absorbed in a week or two. It doesn’t cause a rise in eye pressure. It’s a very common condition.

Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Readers may also order health newsletters from www.rbmamall.com.

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