How to Get Rid of a Pollen Allergy

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Dr. Ana Lamas and I am a practicing allergist and immunologist in the Miami area. Lets talk now about how to get rid of pollen allergies. Pollen allergies are prevalent throughout the United States and very interestingly, depend completely on where you live as far as what season the pollen allergy is present in. Up north, where there are true four seasons, the pollens are pretty predictable. First the trees, then the grasses and then in late Summer and early Fall, the wheats. The pollen allergy is a very interesting phenomenon because first and foremost is reduction of exposure. Obviously, this is a very difficult thing to do because nature is nature and when the pollens is out there isn't much we can do in terms of altering that. However, there are seasonality issues so if there is going to be work done outside and one knows that one is particularly allergic to one type of weed that has a four to six week pollinating cycle, those would be the weeks we choose not to do the work outside. As far as other types of reduction of exposure we would not for a morning walk early in the morning when pollen counts are at their highest, we would not leave clothes outside so the pollen could stick to those clothes and we would leave our windows closed if possible so that the pollen doesn't get in to the house from the exterior of our home. Obviously in some parts of the United States where the weather is pleasant, people open their windows. In that case we have to buy some sort of filtration system that will filter the air so that what gets inside is filtered much as like our air conditioning system does here in South Florida. As far as South Florida pollens are concerned and how we can avoid them, it's a little bit of a different phenomenon. We have pollen all year long so our exposure issues are persistent even in our Winter."