Eye Allergies
Global Impact, Global Goals
An allergy is a response of the immune system to a particular substance, or allergen. Affecting hundreds of millions of people worldwide, the number of allergy sufferers is growing with possible causes cited as everything from reduced air quality to poor diet.
Allergies might initially be dismissed as a condition that does not have much of a global impact. Yet, when one considers the amount of discomfort they cause, and the effect they can have on work attendance and productivity, allergies can have a profound impact on society at a global level. What makes allergies even more problematic is that they are often impossible to eliminate or even reduce to a source of causation. Ultimately, avoiding sources, eliminating symptoms and helping to make reactions more manageable are the optimal treatment methods.
What Are Allergies?
Eye allergies are the body's reaction to allergens that produce eye symptoms such as watering, itchiness, redness or swelling. Basically, when an allergen is introduced into the body of an allergic person through inhalation, ingestion or physical contact, the body's immune system treats the allergen as an invader and overreacts as a form of defense, resulting in such symptoms. This is due to the immune system's production of antibodies, which in turn cause the release of chemicals, such as histamine, into the bloodstream.
It's the release of these chemicals that causes allergic reactions, affecting a person's eyes, nose, throat, lungs, skin, or gastrointestinal tract as the body attempts to rid itself of the invading allergen. Future exposure to that same allergen will continue to trigger the same allergic response again and again. This means that every time the person is exposed to that particular allergen, he or she will have an allergic reaction.
The Alcon Difference
Alcon is helping to relieve allergy sufferers with ophthalmic solutions like PATADAY™ solution or PATANOL® S ophthalmic solution, depending on where you live in the world. PATADAY™ and PATANOL® family of products are different from some other allergy medications because they are taken topically via an eye drop. It goes straight to the source, treating eyes directly, rather than going through the body first.
