If a jellyfish stung: what you can and cannot do

Jellyfish stings in most cases do not threaten human life. An exception is the poison of the sea wasp - after contact with it, a person needs to urgently enter a special serum.

What to do if you get stung by a jellyfish

• First of all, it is necessary to limit the intake of the toxin into the body.
• To do this, wash the bite with salt water and remove the remnants of the tentacles with sand, tweezers, a credit card (you can use it to scrape off cells from the skin surface), and a hard terry towel.
• Treat your skin with chlorhexidine or hydrogen peroxide to speed up the elimination of toxins and heal wounds.
• After treatment, rinse skin again with salt water.
instagram viewer
• If swelling appears, irritation needs to take anti-allergic drugs and treat the burn with an anti-inflammatory gel or apply an ice compress to it.
• In the absence of an antihistamine ointment, the skin can be treated with a cream or shaving foam - in them, the poison dissolves faster and is washed off from the surface. Menthol desensitizes and reduces irritation.
• Drink plenty of water and stay out of the sun.
• If your condition worsens or if you develop allergy symptoms, see your doctor.

Ukrainian resorts attack jellyfish / istockphoto.com

What not to do if you get stung by a jellyfish

• Do not touch the bite with your hands - this will cause the poison to spread and you will get a new burn.
• Never rinse the bite site with fresh water. In unsalted water, "biting" cells are instantly destroyed, dramatically freeing the remains of the poison under the skin.
• You should not make lotions from vinegar and alcohol. Often this leads to an acceleration of the spread of poison throughout the body, especially when bitten by not too dangerous jellyfish, such as the Black Sea Aurelio and Cornerot.
• In no case do not treat the bite site with urine: this will only aggravate the situation.

You will also be interested to read:

How to get rid of itching with a mosquito bite: TOP-5 folk remedies

First aid for wasp, bumblebee, bee and hornet bites