- Today, I'm gonna teach you how to never
get poison ivy again.
I'm gonna take all of these poison ivy leaves,
we are going to blend them up in here.
And then, I'm going to put them on my body.
But if you know a little bit about the science of this plant
and the chemicals in it, you're gonna be okay.
Do I have to put a disclaimer here?
But also never try this at home.
- It might be a sequel to this video
in about two and a half weeks.
And I know where it's gonna go.
(curious music)
- [Announcer] Poison ivy. Poison ivy.
- I am here to talk about everything you need to know
about poison ivy.
We are gonna be talking about how to ID it,
how to prevent it, what causes it, the treatment options.
I have experts here with me.
The dermatologist on poison ivy.
- But we probably treat the worst cases,
or the cases that get complicated.
Thousands a year.
And a lot of people feel like now that we have the internet,
they can Google it and treat themselves.
- We also have Jonas Stenstrom here,
who is maybe the expert on the worst case scenario
for poison ivy.
- I had a reaction a few years ago,
and I wouldn't say Maureen saved me.
Doctors in Sweden had no idea what caused my reaction.
No one could help me.
I was given antibiotics.
I was given all kinds of different other treatments.
Spread so that the whole inside of my thigh,
the whole backside, it started spreading up to my groin,
and then, on the other leg as well.
On the back side of that was just as red.
Created a thick crust that was giving off a lot of liquid.
When it was at its worst, when you were contacted,
I had three of my son's diapers wrapped around my leg
so that it would collect the liquid.
They couldn't find a good bandaid
that would that would be large enough for my leg.
The climax of the whole thing was when I was at the airport
and I felt this itch up here, and I saw that I had spots
around my neck and then the whole thing broke out
over my back.
- Now, we're gonna get into the details
of what happened to Jonas and a general reaction
with poison ivy, but first, let's look at the basic biology
of this plant.
Do not touch anything on this table.
You can get a rash and blisters.
All of this is poison ivy.
So I wanna make sure you can ID it.
That's key, right?
- I can ID it.
- What would you say all these leaves have in common?
Did they look the same?
- They look the same mostly, yeah.
- [Rob] Yeah, and what is the distinguishing feature to you?
- [Blonde Boy] Well, they have through three leaves.
- [Rob] Three leaves, check.
I spend a lot of time with my kids in the woods,
teaching them how to spot poison ivy.
- I have no idea how to tell the difference in poison ivy.
- But clearly, I can spend a little more time.
It can have multiple colors, as we see here.
It can have multiple edges.
I'm gonna teach you a couple easy ways to identify it.
Like my son mentioned, the leaf is the first way to find it.
The common phrase is leaves of three, let them be.
So it's actually three leaflets.
So this whole thing, this is a little botany lesson for you.
This whole thing is one leaf.
So this comes down, and then branches into three leaflets.
Often, the terminal leaflet has a long little petiole here,
a long, little branch.
Often, there's also a little bit of red in the middle.
It's also worth mentioning that poison ivy leaves
can be very different in size and shape.
As I've traveled around the country
in the past five years filming them,
I've found some with very tiny leaves.
- Gives me be bad flashbacks.
- Some with large leaves.
Squeeze into this poison ivy.
Different colors ranging from green to yellow to red,
some with jagged, serrated edges,
and others that are totally smooth.
- These have really gone red in this little corner,
and they look,
they look evil.
- In fact, in the past, scientists had categorized them
into some 30 to 40 different species.
Those are now all grouped just as one species,
toxicodendron radicans.
It is closely related to poison oak,
which looks very similar.
So when you combine poison oak and poison ivy from the East
and the West, it covers much of the United States.
Also, related in the US is poison sumac.
And fun side note, in the same family
are mangoes and cashews,
which can cause some allergic reactions
for sensitive people.
Another defining feature is the hairiness of the vines.
You don't have to have any leaves on this to know
it's poison ivy.
This hairiness, big, big indicator.
Definitely stay away from this.
An easy way to remember it is hairy vine, no friend of mine.
The reason that's important is because in the winter
when the leaves are gone,
you still need to be careful not to throw those sticks
in the fire, or carelessly pull them from your garden.
All right, now let's get back to the chemical
that's in poison ivy that causes the problems, urushiol.
- The chemical that's bad in poison ivy is urushiol,
and it has the ability to penetrate the skin barrier
and get into your skin and cause a contact dermatitis.
Other than that, it's not a dangerous chemical at all.
- That last statement is what confuses people.
Urushiol is not really harmful except
for the fact that it causes a skin issue.
What that means is that this compound
is not like say, many snake venoms,
which contain toxins that do actively mess
with cellular function.
(witch cackles)
Urushiol is more like pollen.
It's something that on its own isn't harmful,
but can induce an allergic reaction
to sensitive individuals.
Here is roughly how we understand what is happening.
As Urushiol enters the skin, it binds to skin proteins,
which are then taken up by langerhans cells.
These cells think the body is under attack,
so they attach an antigen to it
and present it on the cell surface.
T-cells, which are part of your body's defensive system,
recognize them as invaders and start an attack.
They sprinkle the area with proteins
called cytokines and chemokines that lead
to a cascade of events that cause itchiness and swelling.
More macrophages and T-lymphocytes are called in to help.
The effect is that they do kill the urushiol-bound tissue,
but unfortunately, other cells can also be killed
in this process.
Because of that, your skin turns red.
It forms blisters and fills with liquid.
I can tell you, it's not fun.
Now, not everyone reacts in the same way.
If you've ever been exposed,
it may take a while to build this defense.
For Jonas, after he was likely exposed in the woods,
it took a week before he noticed any reaction.
And that's actually what confused Jonas
and the doctors in Sweden.
The next time he was exposed a year later,
the reaction happened quickly, in about 12 hours.
- I have my medication with me, in the car.
- [Rob] That's because his skin was full of T-cells
that have a memory, and were already primed
to look for urushiol.
That means the more you're exposed,
the more susceptible you become.
That's why the idea of eating leaves to build
up immunity as proclaimed by some people on the internet-
- And you eat it.
- [Rob] Is wrong.
- That, there's no real scientific basis for that at all.
I wouldn't try it.
You might end up with a very irritating rash
around your mouth, or perhaps even the other end.
- We also know that about 10 to 15% of people
don't seem to react, so this could be why some people
can spread treatment tales that just aren't true.
What's more interesting to me though
is that most other animals don't ever react.
Deer, squirrels, rabbits, dogs, they're all fine.
In fact, it's mostly just primates, Guinea pigs,
and probably a few others that we just haven't tested yet.
The question was why exactly do our skin cells react?
We didn't really know until some insight came
from Harvard in 2016.
A researcher determined that the langerhans cells,
these ones, in humans, make this tiny molecule
known as CD1A that binds to urushiol on the cell surface
and then communicates with the T-cells.
Amazingly, they found this out because mice
don't normally produce CD1A,
but you can genetically engineer mice to express CD1A.
Now, when they did that, those mice reacted
just like humans do to poison ivy.
Sad for the mice, good for us
because now we know what's happening.
Now let's bring this back to what might seem
like a reckless experiment.
We're gonna take the leaves
and we're gonna put 'em in the blender.
Then we are going to blend them up
and I'm gonna show you one of the biggest keys
of preventing poison ivy rash.
I do actually know that I can produce CD1A molecules
because I have had responses in the past.
I was just talking about all the poison ivy.
It's pretty horrible.
- That?
- Yeah.
So I do react to poison ivy,
and I should note that other than using gloves
to pick the first batch,
I don't have any special skin blockers or barriers.
It's worth mentioning here
that they do sell pre-contact lotions
that form a small barrier on your skin,
but Maureen noted that lotions like this,
unless they have bentonite in it,
are not very effective anyhow.
But here, as I'm blending this poison ivy,
my skin is still very prone.
And I fully understand the risks this presents.
(blender whirs)
Whew hoo! - [Jonas] Whoa!
- Whoa, that almost blew up and went all over the place.
That would've been,
wouldn't that had not have been the worst?
It just blows out.
I was gonna do a control. - Don't touch your face now.
Don't touch it.
Can you also help me stop him from touching his face
when he is about to touch his face?
- Oh, boy.
Okay. Okay, we're gonna do this quick.
Oh, wow.
That is.
- [Jonas] And don't get your shoes now too.
- That is a crazy.
- [Maureen] If you're planning
to try to put poison ivy leaves in a blender
and and pour it on your skin,
please have a good friend who's a doctor who can treat you.
- Whew.
One,
two,
three.
(ominous music)
(mixture splatters)
Whew.
There we go.
Poison ivy on my arm.
At this moment, maybe not a surprise, I feel nothing,
but I paused to contemplate the real solution,
which is time.
Okay, how much time do I have?
- [Maureen] It's like six and a half minutes when I start.
- Okay, let's come over here.
The key is to get it all off my arm as quickly as possible.
(water splattering)
There is that chemical urushiol in it, as we've learned.
We've gotta get it off of your skin,
but it's like an oil.
It's like pouring car grease all over you.
That right there is not enough.
So first step, Dawn dishwashing soap.
Whew. I'm still nervous.
Just because it did splash a little bit on my body,
so I'm gonna first do this.
This is quite effective, I would think as I was blending it.
I got it all over my arms,
so I'm just gonna do a quick wash.
This is not like a chemical,
it's not gonna gimme a chemical burn.
What I have to make sure is that my body
is not going to treat the urushiol getting into my skin
as an allergen, so I have to get it off quickly.
And wow, sticky, it's sticky.
Yeah, some of it is just sticking to my skin.
The urushiol is a resin.
It's a type of oil.
That is the key to get it off of my skin.
Oh, there we go.
(water splashing)
I'm concerned that this might not be enough,
so I am going to now go and take a shower.
(upbeat music)
Sorry.
Do you have a rag over there?
I think that would be good.
- This resin is rather sticky,
and it sticks to the surface of the skin.
- One thing that is important to remember
is that this resin is clear, which means you can't see it.
It's also really hard to get off,
as hard as really, really sticky car grease.
This stuff is not coming off with just water.
You need really good soap, and you need a good rag
'cause you gotta rub and scrub
and get this off and it's not going to be easy.
What was I thinking?
Oh, that's not good.
Point is.
This is gonna be bad.
Get off there.
(groans) What is happening?
This is not good.
Like 10 minutes here.
Of course, your best option is to just never touch it,
which means you need to identify it.
The problem is there are a lot of lookalikes.
Lookalikes.
To recap, you're looking for a plant with three leaflets
with the middle leaf usually a little longer on the stock.
I also think the red in the middle
is a great identifying feature,
but there are a lot of plants in the forest
that look like they have leaves of three,
but are actually leaves of five or more.
Can you spot them on this plant?
Not poison ivy.
And then there's others that do have three leaves.
- Rob, look at this poison ivy.
It's so green.
(Rob chuckles)
- [Rob] I love it.
- I really think it is.
- [Rob] I don't think it is.
Here, lemme show you.
- [Haley] What is it?
- Here, I'm still rolling.
See this?
This looks like poison ivy because it has three leaves.
See three leaves?
But the great thing is you can eat it.
- [Haley] Oh my god.
(curious music)
- I tell you, it's not poison ivy.
I did a video on this.
This is kudzu.
Here's another lookalike.
Oh, see, so this
isn't poison ivy. - It isn't, right?
- No, no. This is one of the mimics.
- So that's what I'm saying,
but that's why I...
- I'm gonna show you this.
Three leaflets.
This is a blackberry.
If you're worried about getting poison ivy,
and you see three leaves and you can't actually identify it,
just stay away from it.
(Maureen laughs) That's my thought.
And I have to stop here
because I can't show you all of the lookalikes.
Generally though, stay away from leaves of three,
and you'll be fine.
- The best way to prevent poison ivy, try to identify it,
but don't touch it while you're identifying it.
And definitely don't deliberately rub
it all over yourself or pour poison ivy liquid on you.
- Obviously, getting it off your skin is important
if you can ID it.
Sometimes if you're in the field,
you won't necessarily have dish soap,
and that's where natural remedies
like jewelweed come in handy.
- You just rub it on your skin.
- As a natural remedy to get the oils from poison ivy
off your skin.
- Better than nothing,
but you still might end up with a little rash.
Truth be told, I did get a small rash on my arm.
It wasn't much, but it was something.
But let's just say you are here
because you do have a poison ivy rash and it's bad.
What do you do?
- I really feel the best way to approach it
is to go see your dermatologist.
- [Rob] The reason for visiting a doctor
is that they can prescribe steroids
that will knock down your body's inflammatory response.
Unfortunately, the over the counter medication
just isn't as good, which Jonas found out.
- Well, this is terrible.
- And it's important to remember the take home
should not be, don't go outside at all costs.
- Don't be afraid of the outdoors, kids.
Still go out.
- Not everybody gets it as bad as Jonas.
- By the way, we are still unsure
what happened to Jonas,
and why he reacted over his whole body.
We think he probably inhaled the fumes of either poison ivy
or poison oak while we were shooting here in the South.
Let's hope with this,
you can avoid a terrible poison ivy rash.
Let's also hope in the future, scientists
can figure out what's happening with this CD1A molecule,
and maybe find a drug that will inhibit the interaction
with our immune system.
- I feel positive that if we put in the effort,
that we could definitely prevent 50 million people
from getting poison ivy every year.
- Thank you, everyone, for partaking
on this educational journey with us.
It was kind of fun to make.
I've been wanting to do this for years.
I do a little bit of immersive journalism, so to speak,
and I was trying to figure out
how do I do that with poison ivy?
And I thought maybe it would get you to this point
in the video, and you'd understand some of the science
a little bit more.
Looking for poison ivy, take one.
(claps)
- [Maureen] Exciting.
- This is exciting.
- [Maureen] Yeah.
- And maybe not be quite as scared to get out into the bush
if only you can ID it,
and make sure you're washing it all off.
Yeah, I was reaching into my pockets.
- [Jonas] Yeah, I think you even scratched your face
at some point, so.
- It's a good plug, also, for the new book that we wrote,
which is called "Mother Nature is Not Trying to Kill You",
with a few exceptions, which are in the book.
This is really good for kids.
It's a great gift during the holiday season.
And I'm not just saying that.
I know a lot of kids who just dig it,
and part of it is you want people to understand
as much as they can about nature, so they're not scared.
And I see that all the time.
You can get it on Patreon, by the way,
if you wanna support more of what we're doing,
Haley and I and the family, we'll send it to you.
We'll sign it.
It's cheaper there than it is on Amazon,
so it's a win for you and a win for us
because we actually get more than when we sell it on Amazon,
which is like nothing, which is ridiculous really.
Anyway, thank you all for watching,
and we'll see you in a future video.