Allergies are a major cause of illness among people around the world. It covers a wide range of triggers and symptoms such as food allergies and environmental allergies to mood-changing and even life-threatening anaphylaxis. People with allergies often struggle to find a way to manage them.
Understanding what causes allergies is the first step in learning how to manage them. A skin prick test with Trisense ENT can help you to find out the reason for your allergy and manage them with appropriate measures.
What is a skin prick test?
The skin prick test, also known as a puncture or scratch test is the gold standard for allergy testing. Allergy symptoms are the result of an overreaction of your immune system to an allergen. An allergen is any substance that elicits an allergic reaction, such as mold, pet dander, dust mites, and foods.
Skin prick test checks for immediate allergic reactions to as many as 40 different substances at once. At TriSense ENT & Allergy Centre, we examine allergic reactions to 68 different substances to give a more precise diagnosis. It helps to find out these IgE antibodies in different ways and to identify your allergies. We offer these tests for children and adults.
What happens during the test?
For adults, the test is mostly done on the forearm. Children may be tested on the upper back. First, your doctor or nurse will clean your forearm or back with alcohol and mark and label areas with a pen. Then they'll place a drop of a potential allergen on each of those spots and prick the skin with a comb-like tool. Then, they will add a small amount of a suspected allergen over the pricked area.
About 15 minutes later, the doctor or nurse will examine the allergic reactions appearing on your skin. If you are allergic to one of the substances tested, you'll develop a raised, itchy bump which is similar to a mosquito bite. A nurse will then measure the bump's size.
A positive skin test result indicates that you may be allergic to a particular substance. Bigger size usually mean a higher degree of sensitivity. A negative skin test results show that you probably aren't allergic to a specific allergen.
How to get rid of my allergy?
If you are tired of trying different medications to lessen or to avoid allergy, TriSense ENT & Allergy Centre can guide you through the right path. They offer various treatments, considering the nature of your allergy.
According to the experts of TriSense ENT & Allergy Centre, sublingual immunotherapy may be one of the most effective forms of treatment if you suffer from allergies for more than three months in a year.
What is sublingual immunotherapy?
Sublingual immunotherapy is an alternative way to treat allergies without injections as it is given as drops or tablets under the tongue. The patient will receive, a small dose of the allergen (any substance or antigen that is recognised by the immune system and causes an allergic reaction) daily, under the tongue to boost immunity to the allergen and reduce symptoms. The standard duration for this treatment could extend up to one year.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has endorsed sublingual immunotherapy as a feasible alternative to immunotherapy, which is provided in the form of injections.
The first four months are considered as the escalation period. One primary dose is provided during this time, and the medicinal dose will be gradually increased. Next is the maintenance phase where the patient takes a series of booster drops or tablets for the rest of the months. This is to maintain the immunity of the patient.
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Blog reviewed by: Dr. Shalini Balakrishnan
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