Pharmacists can help sufferers to enjoy the summer

With approximately 15 million UK residents fighting allergies that affect the eyes and airways and only 12 dedicated allergy specialists between them, the figures demonstrate that alternative healthcare outlets need to be utilised.

Convenient and easily accessible advice is now available at your local All About Health pharmacy. Your pharmacist can advise on medication and lifestyle choices to help ease those dreaded summer months.

To find your nearest pharmacy, log onto www.allabouthealth.org.uk and use the ‘pharmacy finder’ to take the first steps in getting much sought after advice without the need to book a GP appointment or sit around in a waiting room.

Furthermore, with National Allergy Week just around the corner (April 11 – 17) pharmacist Ajit Malhi urges that now is the ideal time of year to get the allergy answers that you need from your local pharmacy.

He said: “Pharmacists are increasingly becoming the first port of call for healthcare advice. The statistics on allergy in the UK are shocking; however, the public need to be made more aware of the services that lie behind their local pharmacy door.

“Your pharmacist will be able to discuss treatment, further action and lifestyle changes if necessary. It couldn’t be simpler and a visit can be made in a lunch hour.”

An allergy can cause all sorts of side effects including conjunctivitis, itchiness, a runny nose and asthma and is caused by a hypersensitivity disorder of the immune system.

It can develop when the body’s immune system wrongly recognises an allergen to be a threat and releases chemicals called antibodies to destroy it.