The
patient’s clinical history is important for diagnosing allergy. Patients should
inform the specialist of their home conditions (place of residency, work, contact
with animals, etc.), the symptom-triggering factors, family history of allergy, etc.
The
methods most commonly used to diagnose the disease and identify the underlying cause
are the following:
1.
Skin tests
These
tests aim to reproduce the allergic inflammatory response in the skin of the patient.
The test allergens are selected according to patient’s clinical history and
the sensitisation prevalence in the environment where the affected individual lives.
2.
Challenge tests
The
patient is placed in contact with the substance suspected to be the cause of the
allergy in order to reproduce the symptoms observed in the target organs (nose, eyes,
bronchi). These tests are useful for diagnosing allergy to drugs, foodstuffs and
additives.
These
tests must be performed by specialists.
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