Allergy, Willow in Periya Lake, Chennai

Tree pollen allergies are common, especially during late spring and summer. Some people are allergic to all kinds of pollens, while others face specific tree pollen allergies. A willow allergy test is a specific diagnostic procedure that can help identify allergy triggered by exposure to willow trees’ pollen grains.

Like other allergies, a willow allergy will flare up as soon as the spring season takes over. Fortunately, a willow test can identify the allergy before it gets severe. A timely diagnosis can help you avoid the allergen and discuss a personalised treatment protocol.

Apollo 24|7, India’s most trusted omnichannel healthcare platform, offers a specific IgE analysis for the pollen allergy test. One can opt for the willow test if they experience the following symptoms:

• Runny nose
• Severe coughing
• Congestion in the nasal passage
• Repetitive sneezing
• Itchiness in the throat
• Redness or irritation in the eyes 
• Watery eyes without any cold or influenza infection
• Severe symptoms for asthma patients

The above symptoms may worsen or improve depending upon the concentration of the pollen grain in the air. In worst scenario, you might suffer from symptoms similar to that of conjunctivitis, rhinitis, and asthma.

As much as it is challenging to avoid pollens altogether, a tree pollen allergy test warns you about the symptoms. Additionally, you can take precautionary steps to ensure your symptoms don’t worsen.

Certain risk factors can aggravate an individual’s risk of developing a willow pollen allergy. Individuals who must take the willow allergy test include:

• Individuals who are allergic to other pollen grains, fruits, and vegetables
• People who have a weak immune system
• Anybody having a congenital autoimmune disorder
• People suffering from asthma 
• Any individual who has undergone an organ transplant surgery 
• Anybody recovering from a major surgery
• People who take immunosuppressant drugs

IgE is a reliable defence mechanism in the willow allergy test in the body to fight against allergens. Hence, the IgE level increases in the blood during the allergy episodes. The pollen allergy test identifies the level of immunoglobulin and specifies the allergen.

The procedure for the willow allergy test includes a simple blood test that hardly takes 5 minutes. The service provider cleans the puncture site and collects the blood by injecting a syringe. After the sample collection, they tend to the puncture site again to avoid any superficial infection.

The method adopted for testing the IgE level is flow cytometry. This technique is suitable for a pollen allergy test because it accurately analyses all cell-based parameters. Additionally, there is no room for error because, after sample loading, the procedure does not require manual intervention.

The significant advantage of a tree pollen allergy test is that millions of cells are studied to curate accurate statistical data about your allergy. This allows the physician to confirm and specify the allergy and observe the patterns.