Allergy Specialist in Oklahoma City ,OK

Dr. Edward El Rassi is a board-certified and fellowship-trained sinus specialist with extensive experience performing allergen skin testing at his office in Oklahoma City, Edmond, Mustang, and surrounding cities. Call (405) 271-1368 to request an appointment today.

The initial step in the treatment of an allergy is an accurate diagnosis by an allergist or immunologist. It involves deciding whether the patient’s symptoms are caused by an allergy and, if so, determining what triggers the allergy as accurately as possible. The resulting diagnosis will target the appropriate treatment or clinical intervention to allow avoidance of the allergic trigger which will help to eliminate or minimize symptoms.

An accurate diagnosis is obtained using a combination of approaches and tests that can include skin pricks and blood tests to identify and confirm a diagnosis. Treatments can include:

Control of Symptoms

These treatments can be self-administered and do not necessarily need to be based on an accurate diagnosis. Examples include the use of over-the-counter medications such as antihistamine creams and steroid creams for eczema and antihistamine pills for nasal symptoms that include rhinitis. More serious conditions can be treated with inhalers for asthma, skin creams for eczema, and auto-injectors for anaphylaxis resulting from, among other causes, insect bites, without having identified whether the condition is truly an allergy.

Avoiding Allergens

This approach is used mainly for allergies caused by food, drugs, venom, latex, and animal dander. This can also include occupational allergies, and to a lesser extent, depending on the suspected cause, asthma, rhinitis, and eczema. When using allergen avoidance, it is important to know that there may be interactions resulting from cross-reactions between, to name a few, latex and fruits and vegetables as well as tree pollen and fresh fruits. While it may appear simple, avoiding allergens may be difficult to achieve, costly, and may not be completely successful.

Rescue Medications

This approach is often part of an individual’s emergency self-treatment plan for acute attacks such as acute tongue swelling or anaphylaxis that can result from insect bites.

Immunotherapy

By administering an allergen either via a beneath-the-skin (subcutaneous) injection or under the tongue (sublingual) an allergist or immunologist can try to reintroduce a patient’s immunological tolerance to a particular allergen. These procedures are typically used to treat allergies caused by pollen rhinitis, venom, asthma, and cat allergy. On occasion, the use of drugs to desensitize a patient to a particular allergen can also be used.

Know The Treatments For Chronic Sinusitis And Allergies

Begin with an over-the-counter antihistamine, try nasal sprays with corticosteroids, and neti pots. Ask Dr. Edward El Rassi about the effectiveness of allergy shots. You may be given an antibiotic if your sinuses are infected.

A new treatment called balloon sinuplasty can be performed in Dr. Edward El Rassi’s office. It is a minimally invasive procedure that lasts approximately 30 minutes. It requires no recovery or downtime and can quickly relieve your symptoms.

During the procedure, a small balloon inserted into the sinus cavity is partially inflated to expand the sinuses and clear them. It will restore healthy drainage and give you relief.

You don’t have to stay indoors all year, take medications for 12 months, or suffer from the symptoms of sinusitis and allergies any longer.