Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Sublingual immunotherapy is one of the lesser known forms of treatment for allergies in the U.S. Most allergies are treated with a combination of trigger avoidance and antihistamines of some type. And for many people with allergies, this is an effective approach to treatment.
Unfortunately, ...
Hi Kathleen,
Your Q/A and update on SLIT was timely and informative. There have been many questions and comments about this painless yet useful approach to reducing allergy symptoms since my posting in 2008. Unfortunately, as you implied, not much progress has been made, regarding FDA approval.
I agree, people interested should talk to their doctors. A growing number of allergists and ENT specialists are providing SLIT despite the mentioned shortcomings. My practice is awaiting more experience and clinical studies on SLIT in this country, in order to have greater confidence in how it should be done and what doses to use. We also prefer to do procedures that are covered by insurance.
I remain hopeful that at some point soon, SLIT will be widely available and FDA approved for people in America.
Thank You,
J. Thompson, MD
Thanks for your comments, Dr. Thompson. Always great to hear what's happening in actual physican practice! Hopefully, SLIT will become more mainstream here in the U.S. at some point...