Dealing with allergies can be frustrating, but also can be life-threatening. If you find that you’re having allergic reactions to certain substances, your allergist might recommend allergy testing. Before you schedule your allergy testing, it’s important to understand what will happen during your appointment. You want to be prepared for what you can expect to happen and understand how allergy testing can identify allergens that could cause severe symptoms to occur.

What to Expect During Allergy Testing

Allergy testing is done when your allergist suspects that you might be dealing with different allergies. Testing helps your doctor identify what might be triggering your allergies so that you can avoid these triggers and avoid any complications that may occur if you come into contact with an allergen.

Allergy testing can be done to help diagnose many types of allergens. This could be through skin contact or food allergies. When you aren’t sure of what your allergens might be, you put yourself at risk for dealing with a severe allergy attack that could be life-threatening.

During your actual appointment, your doctor will administer the test and wait to see if any allergic reactions occur. One common form of allergy testing is the skin prick test. Your allergist can apply up to 50 different substances to your body and check to see which ones cause a reaction. Typically, this is done to identify allergies to pollen, pet dander, foods, or mold. The test is usually performed on your forearm and you might feel minor discomfort as the test progresses.

After 15 minutes, your doctor will check for the results and see if any of the substances caused a reaction. From there, they’ll make notes and explain how to deal with that reaction if it happens again.

Contact Your Allergist Today

When you aren’t sure about what your allergens are, you run the risk of meeting severe complications. Contact your allergist to schedule your allergy test as soon as possible.