Skin prick testing

[mychildrenarebarmy]

Our DS, 2 1/2yrs has shown reactions to eggs and sheeps milk cheese. Since our last 6 month check with the paediatrician he has had reactions to latex balloons and more recently something which we have yet to identify. After seeing his paediatrician yesterday he is being referred for skin prick testing. Could one of you lovely ladies whose little ones has had this done tell me what to expect? Any tips for making ut go smoothly? He's not overly comfortable with strange situations and new people at the moment, going through a clingy phase. It wasn't going to be done until he was 3 but because of the new reactions the dr has brought it forwards.

my dd had skin tests done but she was a bit bigger than this. basically they clean an area of skin and give little tiny scrape and put a drop of the allerggen on the skin. Obv repeated with the number needed. My little one was all sore and scabby and it took ages to find a big enough space! (about an inch square)

dont be frightened by this, ime the nurses who do this are lovely. be warned though that they'll need repeating from time to time as children grow into/out of allegies. later on expect a 'challenge' where they test to see if they are still allergic in controlled situation- for foods only not cats or pollen!

the eczema society have good info on allergy testing here

good luck and don't give up hope!

My DS had skin prick testing done at around 7 months and 19 months.

It really didn't bother him at all. The first time they did it on his back because he was so wee and the next time it was on his arm.

They drop a solution containing the allergen onto the skin and prick the skin to allow the allergen to go under the skin. They also do a positive (histamine) and negative (saline)control.

They then wait 15 minutes to see what reactions there are.

It really didn't bother DS at all so can't really hurt.

They can't have any antihistamines for a while beforehand depending on what type it is.

It's really nothing to worry about, just take some toys to distract him and to play with while waiting.

Thank you. I think the most 'fun' part for us is going to be getting him to let the nurse/DR near enough to do it.

we had a play asistant who came in when dd had to have other kinds of tests and needed a venflo fitted - really tricky as she was minute at the time and covered in scabby sore eczema. i expect they will have access to osmeone, might be worth calling ahead and asking?
good luck

We have had to do both DSs at 1 year, 2 years and 3 years and no issues as the drs/nurses involved are all great at doing it with the little ones.

Basically you will just need to hold their arms out, we made a joke about them writing on the arms and what a mess they made etc. Dr or nurse (location dependent) then just put the dabs of what being tested on the arm and then went down and did the quick scrapes. Wait 15 - 20 mins to see if reaction and then see.

IF no skin test reaction then they may suggest something called parches (patches) which is when they put some of the allergen on the back and cover it with plaster for 48 hours, check the response and then leave open for another 48 hours and check for any response.

Finally, no reaction on skin tests there can still be allergy and they do blood tests. My younger DS has high level milk protein allergies but never shows up positive on skin tests. ie if you are sure there are allergies but skin tests negative push for blood testing.

Good luck - the test is far less than the worry about it, honest

overthemill - that is a good idea, when the letter/appt comes through I will check up on that one.

LteMadrid - when it was said that tests would be done when he turns 3 the dr said if nothing came back on skin tests he would follow it up with blood testing.

I am already planning how I am going to get DS to be comfortable with it. The time before last that we went for new shoes he screamed blue murder when a male assistant (who was on his first day in the children's dept, poor guy) came to do the fitting and kept saying 'want lady do it'. With new people he is fine until they try to talk to him/do something and occasionally look at him! I am looking forward to the day he grows out of it but at least with this I have some time to plan ahead on how to handle it.

D-day is Tuesday (quite impressed with the speed of it but we do have a good consultant who takes a lot more notice than the GP did!). I'm still not sure how DS is going to react to it but I know they will have had to do it many times before so I am sure they will handle him.

Don't forget to not let him have any antihistamines before the test as this could give false negatives. You might want to check for how long. With my dd's skin test they said 1 week for her bloods they said 2 weeks!!!!

We have been told that they won't do patch testing on our 9month old till she's 5 as not enough room on her body for the patches.. Had to push for RAST blood tests which we are waiting the results from for egg white/yolk, milk, wheat, plum, tomato, banana, strawberry and dog hair. Apparentlt these tests are not all that conclusive/accurate though. Anyone else had them. Advice please!

girlsyearapart. They are talking rubbish about not being able to do skin prick tests at that age.

See my earlier post below. They did my DS's first skin prick tests age 7 months on his back so that there was room.

thanks for your message. Yes it did sound like a contradiction of what we had previously been told. We had been told we had to wait til she is 1 for any allergy testing and only got the RAST at 8 months after I pushed for it. Some nights she doesn't sleep AT ALL, itches all day and am fed up with unwanted advice from people at playgroups/doctors waiting rooms/ on the street as if I haven't noticed how bad her skin can be or am not doing anything about it! Her appearance is greatly improved but the itching is still just as bad. Bit confused by that??

Thanks tinytalker, they said 48 hours for us, no idea why it's so different! We had a party to go to this weekend so I watched him like a hawk to make sure we weren't going to have to use the piriton! Now we've got a date for the tests I don't want to have to change it!