How to Treat Poison Sumac Rashes With Cortisone

While over-the-counter cortisone products, such as over-the-counter creams, are not effective enough to relieve the itching caused by poison sumac rashes, you may want to ask your doctor about prescription-strength cortisone products that may work. Generally, you can choose between oral medications that contain cortisone, or creams that have a much higher concentration or hydrocortisone.

Things You'll Need

• Doctor or health care professional
• Cortisone creams (both prescription-strength and over-the-counter varieties)
• Calamine lotion
• Oral cortisone treatment

Instructions

1. Visit your doctor or health care professional to treat your poison sumac rashes with cortisone treatments. Over-the-counter cortisone creams are simply not strong enough to reduce the itching to a manageable level, so you will need to use a prescription-strength cortisone product, which can be used either topically or internally. Your doctor may choose to administer oral steroids, such as corticosteroids, to bring immediate relief to particularly severe or infected poison sumac rashes.

2. Apply prescription-strength cortisone cream carefully, taking care not to rupture the blisters that may occur with poison sumac rashes. Breaking the blisters prematurely may cause infection or even blood poisoning, which will require immediate medical treatment. You will want to massage the cream slowly so that it penetrates the skin without aggravating the rash.

3. Treat poison sumac rashes with oral cortisone medication, which can also be prescribed by your doctor. The treatment schedule for oral cortisone medication generally follows that of antibiotics, where a larger amount of cortisone is administered during the first few days of a poison sumac rash, with the dosages tapering off slowly each day until the prescription is completed. Remember to finish the prescription as directed, even after the rashes have completely disappeared, in order to avoid a reoccurrence of symptoms.

4. Use calamine lotion in conjunction with cortisone products in order to treat poison sumac rashes. Calamine lotion hardens and coats over cortisone applications, so that the blisters and rashes are protected from infection.

5. Try an over-the-counter cortisone cream to treat the later stages of the poison sumac rashes, when the itching is much less intense. When used in conjunction with oral cortisone prescriptions, you may be able to virtually eliminate the itching within just a few days.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are using an over-the-counter cortisone cream to provide relief from itching in the later stages of a poison sumac rash, test a small area of your skin first to rule out an allergic reaction, which can aggravate the rash.