Can Allergy Testing Help with Eczema

Last Updated: 12th January 2023 · Written by Donna Mastriani

The connection between allergies and eczema

You may be surprised to hear that there’s a strong connection between eczema and allergies. While two may seem like completely different issues, there’s solid evidence that they’re connected. This has prompted experts to ponder whether allergy testing would help those suffering from eczema.

There’s currently a lot of conversation about the connection between eczema and food allergies. The topic in question is; “does having eczema make developing food allergies more common than those without eczema? Can food allergies cause eczema? Does having one worsen the other?

Evidence suggests that those who suffer from the skin condition are more likely to develop food allergies than those without. Conversely, people who have a food allergy are also more likely to have eczema.

How Allergy Testing can help

The idea is that having an allergy test could help eczema sufferers alleviate their symptoms. Allergy testing looks for the IgE antibody – If you have an allergic reaction, the IgE antibody will be present. This testing can help you to understand if the eczema is a result of a food allergy. 

Identifying and avoiding a food allergy has been proven to help clear up cases of eczema. Most people expect an allergic reaction to cause symptoms such as anaphylaxis and swelling rather than skin conditions, but there’s a wide range of symptoms which can arise from an allergic reaction. Eczema is one of these symptoms. 

If you’re experiencing a bout of eczema, you should first figure out whether something topical could be causing it. Is it a new hygiene product or laundry detergent? Maybe something in the local environment? It doesn’t make sense to get an allergy test until you’ve ruled out all the other possibilities.

A Cure for Eczema?

Research indicates that food allergy testing could lead to alleviating eczema and, when used early in the diagnostic process, it could save lots of time and discomfort. Not to mention it can pinpoint an unknown food allergy that could cause much more serious issues than a skin condition.

Only time will tell if allergy testing can help cure eczema. but it’s exciting to imagine that a cure exists. Especially to those who are regularly dealing with severe cases and aren’t seeing impactful results from traditional treatment. 

While we try to connect the dots between eczema and food allergies — and which comes first — for now, it’s clear that food allergy testing could be the key to the dealing with eczema.