What Kind Of Testing Is Available To Determine To What One Is Allergic?

— -- Question: What kind of testing is available to determine to what one is allergic?

Answer: So generally, all allergy tests are looking for one thing. They're looking for, do you have the allergic antibody, the so-called IgE antibody? There are two general types of allergy tests. One are skin tests and the other are blood tests. If you see an allergist, generally you'll have allergy skin testing performed.

Allergy skin test is generally thought to be a little more accurate than blood tests. The results are very rapid, we get them right away, and it's generally more cost effective when doing large panels of tests.

Blood allergy tests can be performed by any physician and the results take a few days to get back. There have been large advances in the ability of the allergy blood test to become better, and now the results approach what we see with allergy skin tests.

So generally, whether one's doing a blood test or an allergy skin test, the results are fairly comparable and both are adequate to determine whether one has allergies or not.

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