🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <13333@auspex-gw.auspex.com> johnf@Auspex.COM (John Fereira) writes:

>  A couple of weeks ago I was up in the Sierra's
>on a weekend fishing trip and was hiking a river that was loaded with poison
>oak.  I had a few scratches here and there but never developed symptoms from
>it.  A couple of the guys that I went with are quite prone to it and were
>using this stuff that was supposed to prevent poison oak.  Basically it
>was like a soap. You rubbed it on any exposed areas and then waited a few
>minutes and then washed it off.  I don't recall what it's called but was
>told it works well.  It has to be used within six hours or so of exposure.

There's also a very effective skin protection cream called Derma Shield
which provides a barrier against most alkalis and acids (remarkable
videos of people pouring hydrochloric acid on their hands...), and
which apparently works well against poison oak/ivy. Of course this is
a prophylactic, suitable for anyone who knows in advance that they
may be exposed, not a post-exposure treatment, but that's something.
DS is available only through independent distributors, not retail
outlets; I can provide more info if anyone is interested, including
details of how to sign up (very cheaply) to buy at wholesale direct
from the company.

[By the way, I find DS extremely useful just around the house: it
protects in a lot of different jobs, from working on the car with
hands and arms getting exposed to dirty oil, to painting, gardening
etc.  There's also a version called DermaPlus which also offers
protection against most micro-organisms, and is very nice to have
when you're going to be exposed to germs, bacteria, fungi etc..]

Anthony Bulloch
abulloch@garnet.berkeley.edu