Allergy testing

What do they do for a toddler when they do allergy testing? Is there anything that could happen within the days after testing? (ie: would he be sore, or have a possible reaction, so you wouldn't want to do it within a week of a family picnic or something)

TIA!

ETA: It's not food allergy testing, but environmental like mold, cats, etc.

Message edited 2/5/2009 9:10:16 AM.

Re: Allergy testing

Allergy testing is so simple and he won't be in any pain at all.

They swab his back, then put dots with a pen. Next to the dot they will scratch his skin with a needle type thing that is so small. Next they will drop the allergin in each scratch that they made (a different one in each spot). They also have one as the controlled one to compare something to. You wait for 10-15 minutes and if their a reaction you will a small red bump, the wider the bump the more severe the allergy is. Once the time is up they will measure each red bump. Once they are done they put some benedryl cream and that's it. My DD had it done twice, at 5.5 months and at 15 or 16 months.

They will still test the same way. My DD was tested for 2 different mold spores, dog, cat, bird and cow (if you live by farms I would maybe test for this. DD is allergic to cow dander but not beef).

Message edited 2/5/2009 9:11:42 AM.

Re: Allergy testing

it was nothing for josh.

they took a 4 grids of needles and stuck them into his back.

we waited around for an hour.

you would have never known it was done once we left the office.

Re: Allergy testing

My DS has been tested twice and he's never had the skin test. Both times it was a blood test we had done at the lab. He's allergic to dairy and eggs, but they tested for environmental allergies also. It wasn't a big deal at all.

Re: Allergy testing

We did the skin testing for Dylan. I've been through it several times myself, too. I have had redness that lasted a few days when they tested me for something that I was known to be severely allergic to. It was nothing, really, but there was a red blotch.