Allergy treatment principles 

The therapeutic management of allergy involves one or more of the following approaches:

1. Allergen avoidance
2. Symptomatic medication
3. Allergy vaccination

The strategy of allergen avoidance is very difficult, especially for airborne allergens such as grass pollen. Symptomatic medications (e.g., antihistamines and local steroids) aim only at controlling the symptoms of allergic disease temporarily but do not treat the actual cause of the disease. As a result, allergy sufferers can face a lifetime of symptomatic treatment, often with inadequate symptom control and a progressively worsening allergy. 

Allergy vaccination is the only treatment modality that actually addresses the underlying cause of the allergic disease, as recognised by the World Health Organisation and key allergy treatment guidelines, and should therefore form the foundation of allergy treatment.