"Ether Jones" wrote:

The washes work best as preventatives after exposure but before the
rash. Nothing except time is a cure. Treatments just try to contain
the itch, the inflamation, and the other allergy symptoms.

Yes, I know this used to be the conventional wisdom.

But the point I was making is that Zanfel claims to have changed all
that.

Zanfels claim and only claim is:
"Zanfel helps lift the toxin, urushiol, common to poison ivy, oak and
sumac from the skin where it has come into contact and bound to the
epidermis. This binding of plant toxin creates the allergic rash known
as poison ivy. By washing the urushiol oil out of the skin cells, relief
comes more quickly."

As one reviewer explained: "The scientific claims in the product
description defy belief. By the time the symptoms associated with
poision oak (ivy or sumac) show up, the urushiol has already been
metabolized and gotten rid of. If you're itching, you don't need
something to bind to and defeat urushiol, you need something to relieve
the skin that has reacted to one of the already-excreted breakdown
products of urushiol metabolism."

If you read reviews by users, you will find that some claim that it
relieved the itch. Others found it did nothing. You decide. Remember
most reviews are published by places that sell the product. However, by
the time you can get it from most pharmacies or mail order, the allergic
reaction would be clearing up on its own. Since it is very expensive
many pharmacies don't stock the stuff.

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