blood or skin allergy testing??

reader1

Here's the way my allergist (who conducted both types of tests on me) explained it to me: the skin testing will show exactly what I'm allergic to. The blood tests will show severity by telling you how high your IgE level is. IgE is a major factor in the allergic response mechanism. When you're exposed to an allergen, the free-floating IgE will bind to the mast cells and start an allergic reaction. My IgE score last time was nearly 800. Normal is anything under 100. The skin tests showed I was allergic to 55 different things.

The IgE thing is why everyone is so excited about Xolair, the new anti-IgE medication. Xolair binds to the IgE so that the IgE can't/won't bind to the mast cell upon the introduction of the allergen. I've been on allergy shots and tons of meds forever and I've still been miserable most of my life. I started Xolair in October and it is making a big difference for me.