Sneezing, watery, itchy and red eyes. Do you have allergic conjunctivitis?

Sneezing, watery, itchy and red eyes. Do you have allergic conjunctivitis?

Inflammation of the conjunctiva is called pink eye, and it develops as a result of bacteria, viruses or an allergy. Pink eye is often very irritating and occurs in springtime if it has an allergic conjunctivitis cause.
Allergic conjunctivitis typically affects both eyes, and it is the body’s response to an allergy-causing substance such as pollen. Allergic conjunctivitis is a form of pink eye.
The allergy-causing pollen makes your eyes produce an immunoglobulin called IgE. This will stimulate the conjunctival mast cells, which line your eyelids, and may also prompt your lungs to produce histamines. Therefore you can have allergic signs of pink eye and also wheezing or tightness of the chest in response to pollen allergy.
With pollen allergy you will typically have itchy eyes, tearing watery eyes and redness from inflammation together with sneezing, a runny nose and possible chest tightness.
If you think you have allergic conjunctivitis, you should see Professor Sajjad Ahmad, consultant ophthalmologist and ocular surface specialist at Clinica London. He will advise you on the best drops to use to control and eliminate your allergic conjunctivitis and help you to identify which pollens and other substances are causing your allergic conjunctivitis.
Meanwhile, there are five simple things you can do to prevent pollen allergy symptoms:

1. Avoid walking in leafy squares or parks and gardens where there may be higher pollen levels.
2. Try to spend as much time as possible indoors when the pollen levels are at their highest.
3. Wash your face and hair frequently so that you are not accumulating on your skin small particles of pollen that can then spread into your eyes and cause allergic conjunctivitis.
4. Wash out your eyes three to four times a day with lubricant drops to dilute the allergens and wash them down the tear ducts into the back of the throat, where they will disappear. This will diminish the level of allergen in your tear film.
5. Use simple, over-the-counter anti-allergy eyedrops, preferably without preservatives.

If the above methods are not working or work only minimally, then you must the see the ocular surface specialist, Sajjad Ahmad, at Clinica London.

Professor Sajjad Ahmad’s fees

Professor Sajjad Ahmad is fee assured with all the private medical insurance companies. Therefore you should not have an excess to pay. If, however, you do have an excess, this is likely to be due to your contract with your insurance company or to do with any co-payment agreement you have with it.
If you are self-payer, the consultation fee is £250. There may be additional diagnostic tests required, and we will inform you of the cost.

How to make an appointment to see Professor Sajjad Ahmad

To make an appointment to see Professor Sajjad Ahmad about your allergic conjunctivitis, you should call Clinica London on 0207-935-7990 and talk to Lizzie Granger or Jenny Burrows.
If you have sneezing, watering, itchy red eyes, there are measures you can take to reduce and prevent allergy symptoms. If these symptoms persist, you should see our specialist.
Prevent skin allergy symptoms: dermatology
An allergy can affect the eyes, the nose and the skin, causing various symptoms. Allergies occur when your healthy immune system reacts to exposure to a foreign substance such as pollens, dust mites, pet dander, moulds and bee venom.
Your immune system will produce natural substances called antibodies to protect you. Your immune system manufactures an antibody that identifies the allergen that is harmful even if it is not particularly so.
So when you come into contact with that allergen, your immune system jumps to life and causes inflammation of your eyes, your nose, your sinuses, your airways and your skin.
In this blog, we are talking about skin allergy, though of course it is intermittently related to sneezing, watering eyes and nose, and itchy red eyes, all of which are signs of allergy.
Skin allergy can vary from person to person from a minor irritation through to full anaphylaxis. Sometimes a food allergy can cause a skin allergy, with hives, tingling in the mouth, swelling of the lips, tongue, face or throat and even life-threatening anaphylaxis.
The bee-sting allergy can cause itching and hives all over the body and a large area of swelling at the sting site together with chest symptoms and even anaphylaxis.
A drug allergy can cause hives, itchy skin, swelling, a rash, wheezing and anaphylaxis.
In order to prevent or reduce allergy to common substances such as pollen, moulds, dust mites, pet dander, bee venom, food allergies and drug allergies, you need to recognise what substances stimulate your immune system to produce an allergy and then avoid them.
If, however, your dermatitis or skin allergy is recurrent you need to see our dermatologist, particularly if over-the-counter medications have not provided you with enough relief.
A specific form of allergic skin condition is eczema. Eczema is a formal atopic dermatitis where the patient’s skin becomes red, itchy, scaly and very irritated. It can sometimes become infected and it can spread. Patients with eczema are called “atopic”, meaning that they respond to common allergens around them such as mould, dust mites, pollen and pet dander, etc.
For skin allergy, see Dr Jennifer Crawley, and for eye allergy, see Professor Sajjad Ahmad
Dr Jennifer Crawley looks after patients who have allergies that affect their skin, making them itch. They may well have watery, itchy and red eyes as well, for which they should see the ophthalmologist at Clinica London, Professor Sajjad Ahmad.
Both Dr Crawley and Mr Ahmad work closely together in treating allergic conjunctivitis and skin allergies, such as eczema. They aim to make your life more tolerable by helping you to avoid exposure to common allergens such as pollen, mould, dust and pet dander, etc.
Dr Jennifer Crawley sees patients privately at Clinica London on Monday afternoons each week and Professor Sajjad Ahmad runs his ocular surface clinic weekly on Tuesday mornings.