Can you get poison oak even if you haven't been exposed to the plant?

Do you have any pets that run around outside? The oils from the plant can be transferred.. so if you have an animal that goes outside and then you pet it, you can get an outbreak. This also goes for hiking and getting the oils on your shoes or clothing, so you could potentially have an outbreak if you handle your shoes/clothing days later.

No pets…and I guess I was in Tahoe a week and a half ago so could have been exposed to the plant there – but I was no where near the woods – I was on roads/sidewalks the whole time.

The irritation is from the oils of the plant.

As Alena suggested, you don’t have to have contact w/ the plant—just someone or something that has….You could have picked up the oil anywhere….a restaurant door handle following someone in who had it all over their hand.

Also, consider that whatever “outbreak” you are having might not be poison oak. It might be from some other irritant.

I don’t believe that poison oak is a systemic issue but one of contact. As already noted, you don’t need to contact the plant directly because the oil can transfer by contact with another person or thing. Repeated contact (which seems to be your situation) does increases sensitivity.

@Snoopy’s suggestion is also plausible.

How sure are you that it is poison oak? I’ve seen many patients who confuse poison oak for herpes zoster. The story is often the same. They say “It sure looks and feels like poison oak (ivy), but for the life of me I can’t remember an exposure.”

Yes.

My mom had Poison Ivy for months, because she kept getting exposed over and over again. And as far as I recall they’re pretty similar. We eventually had to wipe down everything in the house, launder everything she owned and change our routine for coming inside the house. Then it went away. You might have touched something you had since the last time?

asmonet brings up a good point! You may need to do what her Mom did and wipe down everything in the house..

Ugh, shilolo, that looks miserable!

@syz: Better known as Shingles, and trust me, it is miserable!

Herpes zoster/shingles is frequently extremely painful….if there is no pain w/ your rash, your index of suspicion would lower for shingles…...

@Snoopy. Not always. As I’ve said, some people just have profound irritation and itchiness, and, not knowing about shingles. confuse the rash for poison oak.

@shilolo I agree…
I said frequently….I didn’t mean to imply it wasn’t possible. My apologies if that was implied.
:)