Treatment for Hydroid stings - it works!

[CHUCK WEBER]

I was in Cozumel on november 19th, taking pictures with my Canon G10/FIX housing. I wear a full 3mm suit and ankle booties.

I inadvertanly brushed against some hydroids with the exposed part of my skin along my ankle. There was an immediate stinging sensation similar to fire coral.

The resultant red rash was not bothersome until one week later when the rash started feeling like poison oak. Hydrocortizone cream was ineffective.

Being this rash was identical to poison oak, I applyed Calamine lotion on the the affected area. Result: no more itching and the rash subsided significantly.

Prior research on the net showed no effective treatment for hydriod stings. Calamine worked for me.

 

[DocVikingo]

Hi Chuck,

Good you found something that worked. Those hydroid run-ins can be quite unpleasant.

For future reference, here's one of a number of existing articles on preventing and treating Cnidaria (includes stinging hydroids) envenomations.

Getting Nailed by Jellies
http://www.undercurrent.org/UCnow/issues/y2003/UC0903/Jellies200309.pdf

Regards,

DocVikingo

 

[RubberDucky]

Thanks to the information in this thead, I'll have some calamine lotion on hand if/when I dive again, as I've dealt with the incessant, relentless itching of hydroid stings in the past. Perhaps even more interesting is reading about "SafeSea" and its potential to mitigate box jellyfish stings. It sounds like the research is still ongoing that it's too early to tell, but if that really is the case then we're talking about potentially saving lives. Amazing stuff.

 

[The Chairman]

I keep a bottle of vinegar with me and that nails the pain and spread of hydroid stings, including Fire Coral and Man o' War. There are a lot of commercial applications out there and their big attraction to me is BRANDING. They are often more expensive with little to no benefits to pain.

Of course the best solution, and the most environmentally friendly one, is to KEEP OFF THE CORAL AND HYDROIDS.

The second best one is to wear a skin/wetsuit and then after the dive to flush your skin with fresh water. This will take care of any "sea lice" that might have gotten in your skin/wetsuit.

Probably a combination of the two is best for most divers. Prevention here is worth a quart of cure, by any standards!

 

[Teamcasa]

I've used this and it works great!
WipeAwayPain » JellyFish

 

[DandyDon]

I thot I was told here that Calamine was worthless...?

 

[Scubadubbido]

interesting. yeah, my rash peaked at 7 days and is now subsiding. I put triamcinolone on around the fifth day and it got puffier and worse and then even stung a little.

Read somewhere where someone suggested hydrogen peroxide which I tried on the 7th day from the sting, a couple days later it is much better, it is fading away. not sure if the hydrogen peroxide made a difference or if the triamcinolone really made it worse....or if it was just a function of time.

 

[Scubadubbido]

I was in Cozumel for the Ironman weekend and at the Santa Rosa dive they were warning of the black hairlike weeve, seeweed coral (someone describes black feather).

Not a completely horrible experience, it is just surprisingly such a noticible sting for such an intermittent interaction with an unassuming seeweed like formation..... like ***?! kind of thing.

 

[DandyDon]

I'm getting flesh colored gloves.

 

[DocVikingo]

I thot I was told here that Calamine was worthless...?

Hey Don Donaldo,

Pretty much is, especially as regards marine envenomations.

Regards,

DocV