Whether it’s asthma, rhinitis, or hives, allergies can make your life miserable: they can disrupt your sleep, ruin your mood, and cause a host of exasperating symptoms. Seeking treatment from an allergy doctor is your best course of action for taking full control of the symptoms and ultimately living well with allergies.
However, finding the right allergy doctor is a process that takes effort, time, and research. It is a personal decision that requires careful thought and planning, and if you don’t have specific criteria, you may end up not achieving your desired outcome. To make the whole process easier, here are tips to guide you in your quest for the right allergy doctor.
· Ask the people you trust.
Instead of randomly choosing an allergy doctor, you can ask people you trust for their opinions about the one they’re seeing. Have them share their experiences as well. This will help you decide whether that doctor is the right fit for you.
You don’t have to expect your experience to be similar to those of the people you know, but getting recommendations is a great way to know what to anticipate from a specific allergy doctor.
· Check for board certification.
Board certification ensures that the allergy doctor has completed either a residency in pediatrics or internal medicine or joint residencies in med-peds (internal medicine and pediatrics).
The American Board of Allergy and Immunology (ABAI) website is where you can verify an allergy doctor’s board certification and check whether the person has complied with the requirements of maintenance of certification (MOC). The ABAI’s MOC is a voluntary, continuous learning process that enables board-certified physicians to demonstrate their commitment to providing high-quality care within their specialty.
· Get a firsthand experience.
A face-to-face meeting is the single most effective way to assess a doctor’s approach to treatment, communication style, and demeanor. Getting a firsthand experience also allows you to get a good grasp of not only an allergy doctor’s attitude but also the kind of culture the whole team fosters in the office.
Here are some of the questions to ask yourself during the appointment:
- Does the doctor care to listen to your concerns and take the time to answer all of your questions?
- Is the office environment relaxed or uptight?
- Is the staff friendly and accommodating?
If the answer to any one of these questions is no, it might be prudent to consider other options.
Finding a Reliable, Board-Certified Allergist in Bradenton, FL
If you’ve been all over the world wide web, social media, and your own network to search for the right allergy doctor, that finally ends here. At Intercoastal Medical Group, our very own board-certified Dr. Matthew Aresery specializes in the thorough examination of allergies, asthma, and immune system disorders. He is dedicated to providing personalized, compassionate, high-quality care to our patients living with allergic skin conditions, and food, drug, and pet allergies. He can deftly diagnose allergies and identify their triggers using prick or patch testing.
Dr. Aresery sees patients in our Lakewood Ranch I office in Bradenton and at several offices on our Sarasota campuses. To schedule an appointment with him, call us at (941) 362-8640 or use our convenient online request form. We look forward to providing you with the best in medical care!
