Kern Allergy Medical Clinic, Inc.  

Skin testing is an accurate way to detect the presence of allergic (IgE) antibodies against pollens, molds, dust mites, animal dander, cockroach, and foods. This will tell you what allergies you have, and is completed in about 1 hour. No antihistamine products can be used 1 week prior to testing.

Immunotherapy or "allergy shots" are used to decrease the allergic inflammatory response to allergens such as pollens, dust, molds,etc. It has been proven effective to reduce symptoms for allergic eye and nasal symptoms as well as allergic asthma and venom(bee sting) allergy.

Efficacy:

Improvement should not be expected immediately. It typically requires 6 to 9 months to "re-train" the immune system before relief of allergy symptoms is noticed. Over 80% of  allergy  sufferers will get significant improvement.

Procedure:

It usually takes about 6-9 months to reach the maintenance dose if receiving injections twice weekly. Shots can then be reduced in frequency up to once monthly as tolerated clinically. It is recommended to stay on maintenance shots for at least 3 to 5 years to achieve the maximum benefit, which will then continue for years to a decade for most patients even after the shots have been discontinued. Allergic reactions may occur, so ask your doctor for more details if interested. A 20 minute wait is mandatory after receiving an allergy shot.

Atopic Dermatitis/Eczema:

Redness, dryness, and itching of the skin often on the elbows, knees, ankles, face/cheeks in children and adults or diffusely distributed on infants. Due to abnormalities of the skin barrier and skin immunity. Can sometimes be flared by specific food ingestion. These patients are more susceptible to allergies and asthma.

Contact or Irritant Dermatitis:

Diagnosed by thorough history and PATCH (TRUE) test can be applied to aide in diagnosis.

Respiratory Therapists offer Asthma education to patients and parents. To determine your lung function compared to healthy controls, Pulmonary Function Testing (PFT) is offered.

To evaluate for an Exercise trigger to asthma, exercise challenge testing is available.

Methacholine challenge also offered to look for airway hyperreactivity or to try to rule-out asthma.