Preference is given to a skin test, because their conduct does not require much time. If an allergic reaction appears soon after eating, the probability of a positive skin test or a blood test, while symptoms appearing after the time difficult to detect in the blood. Please note that this type of allergy tests is only part of the diagnostic process, as it can show a false positive or false negative results. Your child may show symptoms of allergies, while the results of the trial indicate that he is not allergic.
However, it is sometimes difficult to immediately identify a disease as a food allergy: Symptoms may occur after hours, or even days, after the adoption of a particular food. In this case, we recommend a special diet for the diagnosis - elimination diet.
How to diagnose a milk allergy
Skin prick tests
Skin prick tests are particularly effective in detecting allergy to cow's milk protein. On the forearm of the child applied a few drops of cow's milk or other potentially allergenic foods. Through every drop on the skin of the child is a little prick. If symptoms of allergy to cow's milk - the skin turns red and starts itching - it is an indication that the child has a positive allergic reaction to this type of allergy. However, the child may be allergic, even if the trial has not identified a food allergy. Symptoms sometimes appear later. This is possible if the child has a delayed response after a meal, so-called reaction without immunoglobulin E.
Carrying out skin prick tests do not require a lot of time. Therefore, they are often used as an initial screening tests products against which the body produces antibodies. Once the allergens are identified, the doctor can begin to conduct more specific tests (for example, radioallergo-sorbent test).