Even as the prevalence of food allergy is increasing (up to 8% of kids in the US have a food allergy), it seems that the myths surrounding food allergy are also increasing. One of the things I love about my job as an allergy fellow is helping patients and their families work through these myths and establish true allergy versus intolerance.
The most clinically relevant indoor allergens are cat, dog, and dust mites. For purposes of this post, I’m going to group cat and dog together and then provide 3 highlights for each one.
As promised, I wanted to take a few moments to address something we see in the Allergy clinic on a daily basis — sensitive skin. Almost all our patients, especially those who also have asthma and allergies, have some degree of sensitive skin. The severity of each patient’s skin sensitivity varies, and many of our patients struggle with the most severe form of sensitive skin — eczema.
Last time, we discussed the importance of eliminating the likely triggers to flare you and your little’s skin and the most crucial step to treating your sensitive skin. So, it’s time for a pop quiz! What ARE those 2 biggest triggers to flare sensitive skin? And what is the first step to treating your sensitive skin? (Don’t worry, answers will be below!)
Our primary goal is to improve your quality of life by determining what triggers your allergy and asthma symptoms, providing extensive education on how to modify your environment to better control exposure to allergens, and providing you with other treatment options such as medications and immunotherapy (allergy injections).