DOHA: The onset of summer is time for people with skin or respiratory allergies to take extra precaution. By being a little more careful patients of skin and respiratory allergies can enjoy summer without any complications.

Dr Mehdi Adeli, Senior Consultant in Allergy and Immunology at Sidra Medicine and HMC, spoke to The Peninsula about the precautions patients with skin and respiratory allergies should take during summer.

“In summer we have heat and humidity. Severe heat and humidity may affect patients with eczema as sweating may irritate the skin. At the same time decrease in humidity may lead to loss of water from the skin which leads to dryness of skin and leads to irritations again,” he said.

This, with patients of eczema, will increase itching which will lead to inflammation which will lead to flare of eczema. He emphasised on the regular use of moisturisers to protect skin.

“We advise the patients to use moisturisers regularly. Applying moisturisers three to four times a day, specially after shower, will lead to decrease reduction in exposure to the irritants and allergens” he said.  “We recommend patients to keep the temperature and humidity below 40-50 percent. Because increase in humidity helps in the growth of house dust mites,” he added.

Dust mites are insects, not able to be seen with the naked eye. They live in bedding, carpets, fabric furniture, old clothing and stuffed toys.

He said those going to swimming pool should shower before leaving the pool as chlorine can trigger itching.

He recommends people to wear cotton clothes during summer and avoid nylon or silk clothes. Cotton clothes let air to pass easily compared to nylon clothes which block aeration.

He said that if there is one particular activity which is increasing itching, one should reduce that activity as it would help in reduce sweating and itching. “If patients notice that itching increases with sweating and due to exposure to dust then he should take bath and apply moisturisers. It is called soak and seal in medicine,” he added.

Regarding respiratory allergy, in the dusty area usually the dust particles are irritants, they are not allergens. But when they are mixed with oil particles they become allergens. Dust particles mix with hydrocarbons may case cause irritants.

Dr. Adeli said if rooms are very cold and a person moves out to very hot temperature it might lead to abrupt changes in mucosal membrane which can trigger the attacks of wheezing.

He said that if ACs are not being cleaned, they will become safe place for allergens. It is advisable to clean them once a week. Before starting summer, AC must be cleaned properly.

Mostly we remain inside the room during summer, if a patient is allergic to house dust mites, get rid of them by reducing humidity and temperature.

Dr Adeli said that if the aeration of a room is not good then this will be a source of more exposure to the allergens indoors, so cleaning of rooms is important.