Summer brings beautiful weather, longer days, and the urge to enjoy the outdoors. But if you have seasonal allergies, that can mean a season of misery. And this isn’t a small group of people; in America, research shows that 30% of adults and 40% of children have allergies to one or more triggers, making it very difficult to enjoy the outdoors.
Annually, over 50 million people struggle with allergy symptoms, including upper respiratory issues such as sinus pressure. To understand how to reduce the impact of allergies on your life, let’s look at things that often cause allergic reactions, how they affect your sinuses, and what we can do to treat them and reduce future issues.
Drs. Wade Han, Elvira Livigni de Armas, and the dedicated medical team at Florida Ear Nose Throat & Facial Plastic Surgery Center are here to help people in Kissimmee and Orlando, Florida, manage the many symptoms of allergic reactions, including sinus pressure.
What triggers your allergies during this time of year depends on how much time you spend outside. In the summer, allergy sufferers frequently struggle with grass pollen, weed pollen, outdoor mold, and in some cases, lingering tree pollen. Inside the house, however, things like dust mites, pet dander (skin cells and urine), and indoor mold are often responsible.
The risk of dealing with summer allergies also increases if you have other specific conditions, including other allergic conditions (asthma, eczema), other family members who have them, frequent outdoor exposure during high-pollen periods, and exposure to pollutants. The last possible cause includes car exhaust, cleaning products, and smoke.
While sinus infections (which often cause sinus pressure) and allergies are two different conditions, having allergies can affect your sinuses in ways similar to other upper respiratory conditions. Allergic reactions increase the risk of sinus problems through irritation and swelling of your nasal and sinus passages, which in turn increases mucus production.
This leads to all the familiar issues with your sinuses, without the viruses or bacteria involved in other upper respiratory conditions, including the unpleasant sensations associated with sinus pressure.
To avoid the symptoms of an allergic reaction, you should reduce your exposure to triggers. Cleaning surfaces where triggers can rest, keeping windows and doors closed to keep pollen and outdoor mold out, washing clothes and bedding regularly, and using air conditioners with HEPA filters can help with this.
Over-the-counter allergy medications can also help with symptoms in mild cases.
For severe allergies, we can perform allergy tests using blood samples to screen for antibodies, skin prick tests to assess reactions, or skin patch tests, where allergens are placed on the skin to look for a reaction. Once we have that information, we can use different forms of immunotherapy (allergy shots and sublingual) to reduce sensitivity to allergens.
Sinus pressure and other problems in your sinus cavity are common with allergies, but they can be controlled, and we’re here to help. Make an appointment with Drs. Han, Livigni De Armas, and the team at Florida Ear Nose Throat & Facial Plastic Surgery today to find relief.
