What is Allergy?

Allergy is a condition that person shows excessive reaction to some materials although they are not really harmful. Our immune systems that protect us against harmful organisms produce antibodies. The duty of antibodies is to eliminate antigens.

Our immune system that protects our body sometimes shows excessive reactions to some harmless materials. These reactions are called as excessive sensitivity or allergy.

Antigen that causes allergic reaction is called as allergen. Allergic reactions are not only one type; they might emerge in various ways, in various parts of body and their intensity may vary. Our immune system has a good memory. At the beginning of our life, immune system learns to recognize strange materials and to get them in its memory. Then, it prepares its answer by producing antibodies against strange materials (antigens). Whenever the same antigen occurs in the organism, the formerly prepared answer is used by means of the remembering characteristic. Thus, a person having straw catarrh immediately shows reaction when he meets pollens every year due to this characteristic of the immune system. 

Immune system’s contact with antigen, having the antigen in its memory and producing special antibodies is called as sensitivity. Immune system will easily recognize the antigen and immediately show reaction next time. This period necessary for sensitivity to an allergen varies from person to person

WHAT IS AUTHOPY

It means “having an allergic constitution”. This situation is hereditary. There are three main authopic illnesses:

• Authopic dermatic (eczema)
• Allergic rinit
• Allergic asthma

Allergic rinit mostly occurs with eye allergy (conjunctivitis). Authopic people generally tend to produce IgE type antibodies. These IgE type antibodies start allergic reaction by entering interaction with normally harmless allergens (pollens, house dust etc.)