Zanfel Poison Ivy, Oak & Sumac Wash

Another product of interest I discovered at the Academy of Pediatric Washington, D.C. Conference is Zanfel. The manufacturer claims that Zanfel not only washes away the allegic toxin sap of these plants from the skin surface, but unbinds the sap toxin from body tissue after it has contacted the skin. Doctors' standard advice has been to wash off sap from the skin with soap and water as soon as one recognizes exposure to the plant sap has occured. Unfortuantely the sap that has already bound to skin tissue is poorly washed away. 

Zanfel apparently unbinds bound sap so the plant product can be washed away reducing allergic reaction. Zanfel can be effective even after a skin reaction is occuring whereas regular soap does not remove bound sap. It seems it is never too late to use Zanfel once a reaction is under way. If allergic sap can be unbound and washed off the skin, perhaps the degree of allergic reaction can be minimized. That's the hope.

This product is non-prescription. 

Remember, you can get poison ivy in the winter too. Even the vine is allergic to human skin. Sap turns back on exposure to air, so if you are out and about in the garden or woods, and you run into a brable of vines with black dots along the stems, this could be a leafless poison ivy vine. As soon as you recognize your exposure or see the earliest development of an itchy, streaky rash, you may want to hop in a shower and use Zanfel as quickly as possible.

If you try this product, please let me know what you think and if it minimizes or prevents a serious allergic rash reaction.

Dr. T