Allergy Services: KKH

Allergies are common among children. Allergies to foods such as eggs, milk, nuts and shrimp, and environmental factors such as dust mites and moulds often manifest as disorders of the skin or respiratory system and in severe cases, the other organs.

As a specialist hospital for children, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital’s Allergy Service can help to assess and manage your child’s allergy, whether mild or severe.

Our expertise includes:

• The evaluation and management of:
  
• Management of patients with multiple or complex allergies
  

• Eczema
  
• Rhinoconjunctivitis
• Rhinosinusitis
• Atopic dermatitis
  
• Asthma, cough, dyspnea (shortness of breath), and recurrent wheeze
• Acute and chronic urticaria, including physical urticarias
• Angioedema, including hereditary angioedema
• Anaphylaxis
• Food allergy and intolerance
• Drug and vaccine allergies or intolerance
• Oral allergy syndrome
• Latex allergy

• Management of patients with multiple food allergies, requiring avoidance or reintroduction diets
• Provision of allergen avoidance advice
• Safe supervision of food and drug challenges in hospital
• Assessment of patients for sublingual immunotherapy (allergy shots)
• Proper administration of immunotherapy including immunotherapy dose adjustment and management of complications
• Supervision of immunotherapy protocols
• Recognition and management of allergic reactions associated with immunotherapy
• Evaluation and differentiation of non-IgE mediated hypersensitivity reactions
• Supervision of drug desensitisation protocols if clinically indicated
• Management in the community of patients at risk of anaphylactic reactions from food or drugs

Our services include:

• Skin prick testing (SPT) and patch tests
• Diagnosis of suspected drug or vaccine allergy
• Administration of sublingual immunotherapy
• Allergen provocation tests, oral challenges for food and medication challenges
• Patch testing for contact dermatitis
• Basic lung function testing, including spirometry and bronchial provocation tests (methacholine challenge, measurement of flow-volume loops and pulse oximetry, and prebronchodilator and postbronchodilator testing)
• Knowledge of how and when to measure exhaled nitric oxide, and how and when to perform whole-body plethysmography
• Management of exclusion diets and provocation diets