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Your Guide to Allergy Testing

Summertime is most conducive for allergies to thrive as allergens in mold, grass, and ragweed pollen affect people who start sneezing or experience watery eyes by Allergy. People who are susceptible to allergies must be careful during activities that pose serious dangers from insect stings and freely suspended pollen in the air. They must also be careful to avoid certain foods that cause allergies provided; they can identify which foods trigger an allergic reaction that can differ from person to person.

It is not easy to detect what causes allergies. A huge list of food items to other substances can trigger an allergic reaction and cause discomfort ranging from sneezing to rashes showing up on the body. Some form of allergies can be life-threatening too.

Doctors can recommend allergy tests

If you suspect that you are allergic, consult a doctor to decide if testing would be necessary, and you can contact Allergy Clinic Singapore. The doctor will first understand the symptoms like an itchy nose and throat, watery eyes, abdominal pain, or diarrhea after consuming a particular food, or severe reactions to insect stings. If there are signs of prolonged suffering caused by allergies and depending on the severity, doing an allergy test becomes almost inevitable.

Types of allergy tests

To detect what triggers allergic symptoms, you must do some allergy tests. Although the list of items and substances that trigger allergies is almost endless, the most common ones are animal dander, dust mites, pollen, molds, cockroach droppings, latex, foods, stinging insects, and drugs.

Skin testsSkin tests are the most common type of allergy tests. It consists of placing a small amount of allergen under the skin at a specific place and then pricking or scratching that area. Those who are allergic will experience some minor swelling at the place of testing. The test can detect 50 different substances at a time and suitable for detecting the common substances that cause allergies. The test is almost painless, and you will barely feel anything more than momentary discomfort as the lancet pricks the skin.  To ensure that your skin reacts normally, the doctor or nurse will scratch either histamine or saline, or glycerin.

Patch tests – This test helps to identify the substance that causes skin inflammation. This test can detect delayed allergic reactions, which might take many days to develop. The process begins by applying Allergens to the patches, which are then placed on your skin, which remains in place for 48 hours. You must avoid bathing and heavy sweating during this time. Your skin may be exposed to as many as 30 extracts of substances that can cause inflammation or contact dermatitis.

Challenge tests – Doctors might sometimes recommend challenge tests in case they suspect drug or food allergy. The patient eats or inhales a tiny amount of the suspected allergens while the doctor supervises it closely. Never try to do this test at home.

Blood tests – It consists of drawing a blood sample then testing it for allergies. The test takes a long time to give results and costly too.

In all cases, only an allergy specialist can interpret the test results.

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