Children’s Allergies
Top Pediatric Allergist in NYC and Long Island
Dr. Dean Mitchell: NYC’s Premier Pediatric Allergy Specialist
At Mitchell Medical Group, we specialize in working with children and their parents on diagnosing, educating and treating allergies.
Get Allergy Treatment for Your Child
Dr. Mitchell Treats Allergies with Proven, Painfree Allergy Drops. We Now Use This Treatment for Food Allergies!
What does Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo and Dr. Mitchell’s allergy drop treatment have in common? No more tears!
About 80% of children with asthma suffer allergies, and approximately 8% of children under age six have food allergies.
Across the nation, the number of infants, children, and adolescents with allergies, asthma and immune disorders continue to rise. Food allergies, in particular, are a growing concern for parents as severe reactions including death can occur. Detecting and treating allergies early in life will improve your child’s quality of life, help avoid potentially dangerous reactions, and limit missed school days.
Children’s allergies can make life difficult for both kids and parents. First, determine which allergies your child or may not have can be a time-consuming (if necessary) endeavor. Second, ensuring that your child stays protected from his or her allergens can often be stressful and tiring.
Please call our office at 212-397-0157 or request an meeting online to find out how we can help.
Now offering virtual telehealth new patient Meetings!
Our Approach to Treating Your Child’s Allergies – Allergy Drops
At Mitchell Medical Group, we provide comprehensive children’s allergies treatments designed to help both you and your child leave an easier, allergy-free life. Central to pediatric allergy treatment programs are our cutting-edge sublingual allergy drops — developed by our own Dr. Dean Mitchell, a national leader in the field of allergy treatment — which works to build pain-free allergy resistance in patients as young as 4 years old.
When it comes to diagnosing and treating your child’s allergies, we take a different approach. Our unique approach helps to accurately diagnose and treat their allergies.
- Dr. Mitchell will meet with you and your child to get a detailed history of the child’s medical, dietary and environmental history followed by a physical examination
- To test for allergies, we do a simple blood test.
- Other allergists may use hundreds of painful scratch tests on the child’s back to test for allergies.
- Laboratory testing of the blood test for allergies.
- Once an allergy has been confirmed, we utilize sublingual allergy drops to treat the allergies underlying cause.
- Under the tongue drops taken at home each day with only a few in-person office visits required a year
- Ultimate “cure” of allergy symptoms in 3-5 years
Benefits of Allergy Drops for Children
- Child-friendly, pain-free, and sweet-tasting
- Convenient, at-home dosing
- No weekly trips to the doctor
- Preliminary results in just 2-6 weeks
- Safe for young children
- Reduces need for oral allergy medication
- Great for pet allergies
- Successfully treats broader range of allergies and may prevent new allergies
- Alters immune response to allergens for permanent allergy “cure”
- Improves asthma control and may prevent asthma from developing
How Allergy Drops Work
The mechanism behind allergy immunotherapy is simple and elegant and you don’t need to have a degree in science to appreciate the mechanism. A person’s immune system builds up protective blocking antibodies when the patient receives gradual, stronger doses of allergy drops. The stimulation to the immune system creates a shift in the immune balance to block allergy symptoms instead of developing such symptoms.
The allergy drops are taken daily by mouth. Over time, with the use of the allergy drops your body builds up a tolerance to what is making you allergic. Most of our patients need to take allergy drops 6-12 months before they build up a high tolerance to the cause of their allergies.
Traditional Pediatric Allergy Treatments
Historically, several methods have been used to treat children’s allergies. These methods include both over-the-counter and prescription medications such as antihistamines, decongestants, steroids (nasal steroids, eye drops, and oral steroids), and bronchodilators (inhaled medications). Each of these methods works to treat the symptoms of allergies.
For long term allergy relief, allergy shots are injected into the body as a form of immunotherapy to induce a small allergic reaction and build the body’s tolerance to a certain allergen over time. Though effective, allergy shots are also somewhat painful and have risks, including severe local reactions, systemic reactions, and, in rare cases, anaphylaxis (a life-threatening allergic reaction).
Allergy Drops vs Allergy Shots Quick Comparison
| Allergy Shots | Allergy Drops | |
|---|---|---|
| Begins with allergy testing | Allergy ShotsX | Allergy Drops X |
| FDA-approved allergen formulas | Allergy ShotsX | Allergy Drops X |
| Allergy “cure” in 3-5 years | Allergy ShotsX | Allergy Drops X |
| Targets all allergens at once | Allergy ShotsX | Allergy Drops X |
| Full concentration at the start for immediate improvement | Allergy Shots | Allergy Drops X |
| Pain-free administration | Allergy Shots | Allergy Drops X |
| Convenient, self-use at-home | Allergy Shots | Allergy Drops X |
| Doctor visits only 1-2 times/year | Allergy Shots | Allergy Drops X |
| Safe and easy for kids as young as 4-5 years | Allergy Shots | Allergy Drops X |
Allergy Drops: A Holistic Advantage
Here at Mitchell Medical Group, we use sublingual allergy drops — developed by our own Dr. Dean Mitchell — to effectively treat a number of allergies in kids as young as 4-5 years old. In principle, allergy drops work the same way allergy shots do: they give a patient a small dosage of a specific allergen, allowing his or her body to absorb and process the allergen and slowly build immunity through continued sessions.
Unlike allergy shots, allergy drops have the unique advantage of being administered under the tongue, allowing patients the convenience of pain-free, at-home dosage administration. Plus, sublingual allergy drop treatment can begin at full concentration, with doses taken every day for continued comfort and allergy resistance.
Dr. Dean Mitchell, Board Certified Allergist Experience
Dr. Dean Mitchell has been practicing medicine for over 25 years and has helped thousands of patients get relief from their allergies. He developed allergy sublingual allergy drops as an effective, convenient, and pain-free alternative to allergy shots that can be started in patients at a younger age. When you schedule an Meeting with Dr. Mitchell, he will determine a detailed allergy treatment plan based on thorough assessments of your child’s allergies. Should you choose to use allergy drops, Dr. Mitchell creates personalized dosages based on your child’s age, body composition, and specific allergies.
Common Allergies & Allergy Symptoms
Common Types of Allergies
- Environmental allergens
- Dog allergies
- Cat allergies
- Mold allergies
- Food allergies (nuts or dairy)
- Insect venoms
- Drugs such as penicillin
- Dust mites
Common Allergy Symptoms
- Coughing
- Hives
- Itching
- Nausea or vomiting
- Runny or stuffy nose
- Sneezing
- Swelling in body parts
- Stomach pain
Why We Prefer a Blood Test Over Scratch Tests
Testing for allergens is simpler than ever before and with advances in blood testing, there is no reason for your child to endure painful scratch tests. Today’s sophisticated blood analysis allows for precise diagnosis with only one blood draw.
This type of testing tells us several important factors. It tells us how allergic a patient can be, indicates the likelihood that the patient will develop or has already developed allergic antibodies to environmental substances (pollen, mold, dust) and foods.
In order to determine how allergic a patient can be to a substance is called the total IgE. To make an accurate diagnosis the doctor needs what’s called the specific IgE – identification of the antibodies that are specific as to which allergens in the environment are the culprit.
The specific IgE reveals what you are allergic to and how severe it might be.
Both blood and scratch tests are equally reliable and highly accurate, but we prefer blood tests for two reasons:
- They do not introduce the allergic substance into the body so there is no risk of an allergic reaction caused by the test
- The blood test is standardized (meaning the lab uses controls to make sure the test is accurate). Skin testing can vary depending upon the device used and the practitioner performing and interpreting the test.
The Allergy March
As we grow toward and through adulthood, allergies cease to follow a straight line and as a result, they are not always easy to spot which means we don’t always know that we are allergic even if the symptoms are in plain view.
For example, since allergies present in different ways, allergic patients may already have seen one or more specialists before they are sent to an allergist. The patients follow the symptoms, which often take them down other paths, they go where it hurts them, not realizing that the actual condition may underlie their symptoms.
Get Treatment for Your Child
If you think your child suffers from allergies or has been diagnosed with allergies, Mitchell Medical Group can help. Give us a call today to schedule your Meeting with Dr. Dean Mitchell in our midtown Manhattan office or Rockville Centre, Long Island office.
Please call our office at 212-397-0157 or request an meeting online to find out how we can help and schedule a new patient virtual telehealth Meetings.