Having a physical reaction to something can be extremely worrying, frustrating and painful. For many people, they may not have even realised they had an allergy until they were well into their adult years, and some people only develop allergies after they become an adult. Allergies are confusing things. We don't fully understand them, but we do know how to test for them and make sure that you understand what you are allergic to. The best and most precise way to do that is through the use of skin prick testing.
What Is Skin Prick Testing?
Skin prick testing is a common method to check for allergies in an immediate and safe environment. Skin prick testing sounds exactly like it is: when you schedule an appointment you will either have a nurse or a doctor apply common allergens (or a specific one if you think you might be allergic) to your skin. They will then prick the skin very lightly (often it can't be felt at all) and see if there is an allergic reaction. They can do this with a number of different allergens at once to speed up the process and rule out a number of common ones like animals, food, bees, grass and even some medicines.
How Do They Know I Don't Just Have Sensitive Skin?
Generally when you have skin prick testing done the doctor or nurse also applies two control substances. That means that two substances are tested that should provide a positive or negative result every time: a histamine and saline. Almost everyone's skin will give a positive reaction (as if you were allergic) to the histamine and almost everyone will give a negative reaction to the saline. If either of these doesn't provide their normal result on your skin, the doctor will realise that you have sensitive skin or some other underlying issue that means skin prick testing doesn't work for you. They will then move forward with another option.
Does It Work For Children?
Skin prick testing is done on children from very young ages and up. Often times a child can't explain what they are feeling or are allergic to, so testing is the best way to find out for sure if they are allergic to anything. Skin prick testing is one of the easiest and least invasive allergy testing procedures to perform on small children. Of course, children hate needles, but the ones involved in skin prick testing don't resemble regular ones, and the feeling is much less painful than an injection.
To learn more about skin prick testing, contact a clinic in your area like Darwin Dermatology.
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