Follow precautions to prevent allergies summer heat brings in, advises HMC expert

Patients with skin and respiratory allergies should take a set of precautions to avoid serious complications during the summer heat and humidity, a senior consultant and Hamad Medical Corporation as well as Sidra Medicine has advised. “ Use moisturisers , wear loose cotton clothes, keep the humidity level inside the house below 50% and regularly clean the air conditioners and carpets are some the ways to overcome the heat and humidity during the summer months,” said Dr Mehdi Adeli, senior consultant, Allergy and Immunology.“Summer heat can flare up allergic diseases and skin allergies such as eczema, respiratory asthma and nasal allergy. Heat and humidity in summer will affect patients with eczema leading to itching and inflammation. Sweating caused by increase in temperature may irritate the skin. Humidity might lead to loss of water from the skin leading to the dryness of skin,” explained Dr Adeli.“We recommend the use of moisturisers three to four times a day. We also recommend the patients to keep the room temperature well controlled and humidity level to be less than 50%. Increase in humidity leads to increase in the growth of house dust mites,” noted the physician.“ Another way is to use cotton clothes during summer, avoid tight clothes and use loose clothes that will allow air to reach the body in plenty. Have modest physical activity to avoid heavy sweating. We use the term ‘Soak and Seal’ which means soaking in water and sealing by moisturisers. Moving from very cold weather to hot weather outside immediately can also cause allergy sometimes,” cautioned the official.According to Dr Adeli, the air conditioners should be cleaned weekly once to remove the dust particles. “Before the start of the summer season, all the air conditioners should be properly cleaned. Similarly, all the carpets should be regularly cleaned and the bed sheets should be washed in hot water. These steps will help prevent the allergies to a great extent,” the physician highlighted.An allergy and immunology awareness programme started in 2014 by HMC, gives the details to deal with allergy diseases. There are over 17 publications and leaflets available on HMC website that help the patients deal with allergy diseases.The official also pointed out that the patients have to continue with the medications to keep the respiratory allergies under control even if they feel better.“Generally allergy patients use all the medications directly through the mouth which is a wrong practice. All the allergy medications should be taken with spacers that allow the full concentration of the medication to reach the respiratory infection or reach the lungs. In order to decrease the side effects of the medication, it should be taken in the proper way,” added the official.