Allergy Drops

Instead of painful allergy shots and weekly office visits, you can now get long-term allergy relief simply by putting a few drops under
your tongue. This safe, effective treatment is called sublingual immunotherapy (SI), and it’s now available at ENT Solutions’ Pain-free
Allergy Clinic in Blairsville, Georgia at the office of Dr. Wendy L. Smith, ENT.

Pain free. At your first visit, we learn about your specific allergies by performing a stamp test followed by a simple blood test. Once we’ve determined what triggers your allergy symptoms, we customize a solution that helps desensitize you to those allergens. No painful shots are involved. You simply put a few drops under your tongue each day. Hassle free. Traditional allergy shots require weekly office visits. But with SI, you typically visit our office just twice a year. We teach you how to self-administer your medication and send refills to you by mail. Symptom free. The SI drops desensitize you to allergens. Allergy symptoms typically disappear within six months of treatment eliminating the need for antihistamines, steroid sprays or other allergy medications. Our goal is to make you symptom free for the rest of your life, which takes 3 to 5 years of treatment. Allergy free! If you’re tired of dealing with sneezing, runny nose, headaches or other allergy symptoms, but you don’t want to go through years of painful allergy shots, call Dr. Wendy L. Smith’s Allergy Clinic at (706) 745-1305 for an appointment.

Now there's a permanent, pain-free solution.

So many people suffer needlessly from allergies to pollen, molds, dust mites, and foods. They often spend hundreds of dollars a year on medications which treat the symptoms, but not the underlying cause.

A permanent solution is available. This safe, effective treatment is called immunotherapy. A tiny dose of those items to which you are allergic is administered to you in increasing doses until your immune system learns to ignore the allergen. This treatment, which takes between 3 to 5 years, offers a permanent solution.

The doses may be administered in one of two ways; either as a weekly injection or as a drop under the tongue. Dr. Smith has chosen to administer immunotherapy as drops under the tongue because of the following advantages:

• It's pain-free. Let's face it, nobody likes shots. Studies have shown that those on allergy drops are much more likely to stick with the treatment.
• Convenience. In our rural mountain area, it is simply not practical for patients to visit each week for a shot. With allergy drops we can simply mail you a 3-month supply.
• Safety. The area under the tongue contains dendritic cells which are specially designed to absorb allergens without a reaction. This allows us to treat patients for a much wider array of allergens with substantially less risk of side affects than shots.

How Does the Allergy Program Work?

We do some detective work to establish what you are allergic to and just how allergic you are to each allergen. How do we do this? We have developed a very safe and painless way to do our discovery work. First, we ask you questions about your symptoms such as when you experience symptoms (day, night, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, etc.) and how these symptoms affect you (sneezing, itching, etc.) Second, we give you a stamp test on the inside of each arm. This test takes 30-seconds and is completely painless. And finally, we do a simple blood test and send the sample to a laboratory for sophisticated analysis.

• Based on the results of our testing we know just how allergic you are to each allergen. With this information we create for you a customized allergy solution.
• We show you how to self-administer your allergy drops with our metered-dose dispenser. Just one drop under the tongue, three times each day.
• Each dispenser lasts three months. Most patients find their allergy symptoms all but disappear in that first 3-month period. Each time we mix a new dispenser for you we evaluate your progress and gradually, over a 3 to 5 year time period, we adjust the concentration of allergens.
• At the end of 3 to 5 years your immunotherapy will be complete. No more symptoms. No more medicine.

Allergy FAQ's

After decades of worldwide use, allergy drops have been shown to be an extremely safe and effective treatment to cure allergies. The allergens used to prepare the drops are the same FDA-approved extracts used in the preparation of allergy shot therapy. The route of administration of the drops (under the tongue) is the only difference. Unlike shots, the drops can be taken in the comfort of your own home. No more driving to your doctor’s office once or twice a week to get your shots. Side effects from drops have been shown to be very minimal and may include mild itching of the mouth or mild stomach discomfort.

Like shot therapy, the lasting effects of drops will “cure” your allergies instead of just “mask” the symptoms.

How are Drops Different from Taking Allergy Pills?

A drop under the tongue three times a day is all it takes.

For immediate relief, allergy pills will usually work well at relieving your symptoms. The problem is that when your symptoms re-appear, you must take another pill. That cycle will continue for as long as you have allergies since you are “masking” your symptoms rather than “treating” them. Eventually, your system may learn to “tolerate” the allergy pills without the symptom relief you initially experienced. At this point, you have done nothing to “cure” your allergies or prevent the possible onset of asthma.

Allergy drops are a patient-customized treatment therapy designed to eventually “cure” your allergies so that you will be symptom-free without the need for any medications. The length of time required for the “cure” varies by patient but it will usually take from 3-5 years, the same as shot therapy. The good news is that you will begin to experience symptom-free days within 3 to 6 months of starting your treatment.

Your Commitment to Allergy Drop Therapy Results in Permanent Relief

The key to an effective allergy cure is commitment.

Your decision to start allergy therapy drops needs to be given careful consideration. The timeframe for this commitment is 3 to 5 years. Even though you will experience relief much sooner than that, it will take this additional amount of time for your body to tolerate these allergens without a reaction.

Each year you will be tested to determine your progress. If you stop your treatment before the drop therapy program has been completed, your symptoms will return in a few years. The goal of this program is to provide a permanent solution—so it is strongly encouraged that you stay the course.

This program is an investment in your health for the long-term relief from your allergies. If you start the program and then stop prematurely, you will need to start all over again to effectively build up your tolerance to the substances that trigger your allergic reactions. There’s never been a more convenient, cost-effective and pain-free alternative to get long-term allergy relief.

How Much Does Allergy Drop Therapy Cost?

It pays to compare your treatment options to fully understand your insurance benefits.

At the present time, sublingual drops are not covered by most insurance plans. While your initial reaction may be that a treatment therapy that is not covered by my insurance will result in more out-of-pocket expense for me, this may not necessarily hold true. Many insurance companies will pay for allergy shot therapy, however, your co-pays (out-of-pocket costs) for allergy shots may be as high as $20-$30/visit (not to mention your added cost of travel). Assuming costs of $80 to $120 a month in co-pays for injection therapy (or more), the cost for drops is considerably less expensive. Since insurance plans vary greatly, the only way to know for sure what the cost difference will be is to review your allergy benefits outlined in your insurance plan.

In addition to being cost-effective, consider the additional benefits of drops compared to shots: convenient, pain-free, easily transportable for travel (no refrigeration), child-friendly, pleasant tasting and very mild (if any) side effects.

Contact Dr. Wendy Smith’s office for additional information and be sure to ask about their monthly interest-free payment plan for sublingual drop therapy.