Get Rid of Allergies · Prevention · Causes · Identifying Allergies Dr. Stacy Sampson is a board certified family medicine physician. He graduated from the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Des Moines University in Iowa. She has experience in utilization management and hospital medicine and is a volunteer physician in a free clinic.
She enjoys spending time with her family and is an amateur musician. If you're plagued by allergies and have done everything you can to reduce allergens in your home, an air filter might help. Never buy air purifiers that generate ozone. According to the EPA and doctors, ozone is a respiratory irritant and, in fact, can worsen allergy or asthma symptoms.
In some cases, using an air purifier can cause allergies to worsen rather than improve. In most cases, this is due to ionizing units that increase the amount of allergens and dust in the air. Depending on the technology, an air purifier that uses a filter to remove particles can have a significant impact on the number of pet allergens. If you have a house with several residents who could have respiratory problems due to a dirty air filter, buying a filter every few months may be cheaper than having several people who need to see a doctor at once.
Ozone generators are devices that intentionally produce ozone, which manufacturers claim cleans the air. A knowledgeable associate at a home improvement store or HVAC company should be able to provide helpful assistance when looking for the right air filter to install. An air filter can collect and house these allergens and allow them to circulate around homes when the air conditioner is in use. If you or someone in your family experiences any of the symptoms listed above, adding an air purifier can help reduce symptoms.
The term HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) describes filters designed to capture 99.7 percent of all particles 0.3 microns or smaller (too small to see, but the perfect size to penetrate the lungs). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the American Lung Association recommend air filtration for people with allergies and asthma, but not as a solution on its own. Much of this has to do with the fact that the largest allergen particles are deposited on carpets, surfaces and bedding instead of circulating in the air. As air is drawn into the purifier, the ionizer negatively charges it and releases it into the room, where the negatively charged particles are attracted and adhere to the positively charged air particles in the room.
Smaller molecules are more likely to pass through a HEPA filter and return to the air. Studies support multiple interventions, including air filtration, as methods to improve outcomes in the treatment of allergic respiratory diseases. One way you might have considered reducing the effect of pet allergens is to buy a household air purifier. Like previous reviewers, they recommended that more rigorous study methods be applied to future research on air filtration and that studies be long enough to demonstrate their effectiveness.
The authors found a small statistically significant improvement in overall symptoms and sleep disturbances associated with the use of air purifiers, but there was no improvement in nasal symptoms, medication use, or peak expiratory flow (PEF) values.
