Allergy Testing

It is important that you avoid taking antihistamines for approximately five days prior to your allergy test. Antihistamines interfere with your allergic response and can throw off the results of your allergy test. Our team may give you a list of other medications to avoid in the days leading up to your test.

If you develop new swelling or bumps after your allergy tests, or your existing bumps get worse or do not disappear after two to three days, contact our office.

The amount you will pay for allergy testing depends on whether your health insurance offers coverage. Our office would be happy to answer your questions and provide our billing codes so you can check with your insurer about how much coverage they offer for allergy testing.

It depends on what triggers the allergic reaction. Some allergies are seasonal (i.e., allergies to pollen from grasses or trees). Others last year-round (e.g., allergies to dust or pet dander).

Eye allergies cannot be cured, but allergy symptoms can be managed with medications and eyedrops. Another option is allergy shots to build up your body’s immunity to specific allergens.

Our team can review the available treatments with you during an in-person appointment. We can also discuss lifestyle changes to make to minimize or avoid exposure to allergy triggers.

Rubbing your eyes too often or too hard is risky. It can irritate your eyes and make your allergies worse. It can also damage the tiny blood vessels of your eyes, aggravate conditions like glaucoma and possibly lead to problems such as keratoconus. Finally, rubbing your eyes can transmit germs that may cause an infection.

Access Eye offers the skin scratch test with AllerFocus. This FDA-approved diagnostic test has 80 panels covering allergens in our region.

The serum-specific Ige test takes a sample of your blood and measures the levels of Ige antibodies present in the blood after exposure to a single allergen. The higher the amount of lge antibodies, the more likely the body will have an allergic reaction. These tests are done with allergists and are often used to diagnose and manage food allergies. Serum-specific Ige may be necessary after a skin scratch test identifies one or more allergic reactions. A separate Ige test is done for each suspected allergen.