02/10/2025
Immunotherapy can be life changing for patients with environmental allergies, but it's important to understand the reasons why and how we use it, so let's chat:
🌻 Atopic dermatitis or allergies is a progressive disease. This means that each year, the symptoms and secondary changes get worse. Medications like Cytopoint and Apoquel stop the symptoms, but immunotherapy acts on the underlying disease.
🌻 Most patients need to be on immunotherapy for life. The goal is to be able to reduce the other medications needed by at least 50%, and in some cases, we can stop other anti-itch medications altogether.
🌻 Early in atopic dermatitis, patients are itchy, but their skin looks normal, and this is the best time to start immunotherapy. Each time the skin becomes inflamed or your pet gets an infection, secondary changes happen. These changes look like thick, leathery skin or skin that is darker than it used to be. These secondary changes are harder to treat.
🌻 It can take up to a year to see immunotherapy reach its full effectiveness. During this time, we often need to use other medications to control the itch to make sure your pet stays comfortable and we're reducing the infection cycle.
🌻 There are two commonly used ways to give immunotherapy. Either by an injection under the skin (the same place vaccinations are given) or by a drop under the tongue. Each method has its own benefits and drawbacks, but these are discussed with you before we start to make sure we pick the method that works best for you are your pet.
Have you heard about immunotherapy before?
