Why an Allergy Consultation is Better than Testing Alone

Allergy testing alone can be useful, but it’s not a substitute for a consultation with an allergist. Here’s why:

• Allergy tests (e.g. skin prick, IgE blood tests) can yield false positives or false negatives.
  • False Positive: The test says you have the condition, but you actually don’t. Example: A COVID test comes back positive, but you’re not infected.
  • False Negative: The test says you don’t have the condition, but you actually do. Example: A pregnancy test says negative, but you are pregnant.
• An allergist integrates test results with clinical history, symptom patterns, and exposure risks to determine relevance.
• Many allergic symptoms overlap with non-allergic conditions (e.g. viral rhinitis, food intolerances, autoimmune rashes).
• A allergist can distinguish between IgE-mediated allergy, non-IgE reactions, and non-allergic triggers.
• Allergists avoid over-reliance on non-evidence-based tests (e.g. kinesiology, hair analysis, IgG food intolerance panels), which lack clinical utility.
• For high-risk cases (e.g. anaphylaxis, venom allergy, drug hypersensitivity), allergists assess severity, cross-reactivity, and emergency planning—something a test alone cannot do.
• A consultation allows for shared decision-making, lifestyle advice, and long-term strategies—especially important in chronic or multisystem allergic disease.