Allergy Tests

How To Prepare

Many medicines can affect the results of a skin test. Be sure to tell your health professional about all the nonprescription and prescription medicines you take. You may need to stop taking some medicines, such as some tricyclic antidepressants and antihistamines such as cetirizine (Zyrtec), fexofenadine (Allegra), and loratadine (Claritin) before you have an allergy skin test.

Talk to your health professional about any concerns you have regarding the need for the test, its risks, how it will be done, or what the results will show. To help you understand the importance of this test, fill out the medical test information form(What is a PDF document?).

Go to previous section	Go to top of page	Go to next section
Author:	Debby Golonka, MPH	Last Updated: August 8, 2007
Medical Review:	Caroline S. Rhoads, MD - Internal Medicine Harold S. Nelson, MD - Allergy and Immunology
© 1995-2008 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.