Clinic Policies
Allergy Testing
Oral Food Challenges
Contact Patch Testing
What is done differently in our clinic?
 






Clinic Policies

Alberta Health requires a referral from a health care clinician in order for patients to book an appointment with us. Referrals from Physicians, Nurse practitioners (not nurses), Dentists, Optometrists, Physiotherapists and Chiropractors are welcome and accepted. If you would like a referral, contact your medical provider and ask them to fax a referral to us. We will then contact you.

Waiting lists are excessive. You can help by informing us immediately should you wish to cancel your appointment - this enables us to book another patient in your cancelled slot. A minimum 72 hour notice is required for cancellation. Please be advised that if you do not provide 72 hour notice or do not show up for your scheduled appointment, you will be charged a no-show fee of $175. No rebooking will occur until this fee is paid.

Please arrive 15 minutes before your appointment, so that you can have time to fill out the medical questionnaire. Consider filling our patient intake form prior to coming to clinic.

Parking: Make sure to register your license plate with our clinic otherwise parking enforcement will ticket you with a violation. Unfortunately the parking lot does not belong to us, if you are ticketed you will need to raise this with Diamond Parking.

We pride ourselves on being a clinic that does not make patients wait endlessly in a waiting room. Your time is as valuable as ours. Therefore, please understand that if you arrive late to your appointment, you will forfeit your time slot to the next patient waiting. This is to ensure that subsequent patients are seen on time and not suffer the consequences of you showing up late. You will likely still be seen, possibly in between patients. Expect your appointment to last on average 60 minutes.


 



Allergy Testing

To prepare for your appointment with us, please read this section.

Skin Prick Testing may be necessary to establish a diagnosis of an allergy. We use only one of the world's most respected supplier of allergens, ALK. We do not resort to using cheaper and more dilute extracts that may not have the proper concentration of allergens required to detect allergies.

In addition, we use the Multi-Test II skin prick test device. Even though this device is to our clinic over a hundred times more expensive than the lancet device commonly used at other locations, we use the Multi-Test II because it is designed in such a manner to cause minimal pain and results in the uniform application of the allergen. This is to ensure that you have a reliable, quick and painless experience when undergoing skin testing with us.


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The lancets pictured below are the devices used in most other allergy clinics. These are blood lancets, designed to draw blood (such as for blood sugar testing) and have never been approved for allergy testing. Not only are blood lancets not standardized, resulting in different amount of allergen under your skin, it also causes pain, especially in young children. In addition, using these devices is time consuming for you as multiple skin pricks cannot be done simultaneously.

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Do note however that with a concern around a specific allergy in particular food allergy, we may still use the single prick applicator as the multi-tip applicator tests for 8 pre-filled allergens at a time. We use the allergy approved testing device called duotip - we do not use the painful and non-approved blood lancet above. We also never wipe down the allergy skin test device between allergens - we discard it.

Note that there is a fee to conduct our skin prick testing as this unfortunately is not covered by your Alberta Health plan. The cost is dependent on the amount of testing and materials used. 100% of the fee goes towards paying for the devices and extracts. This material test fee is also the lowest among allergy practices in Calgary.
 



What is Antigen carry-over?
Using the same scratch device for all your skin prick testing results in a phenomenon known as 'antigen carry-over'. Antigen carry-over is when microscopic amounts of allergens are carried over on the skin prick device from one skin test to the next. This is why skin prick test devices should always be discarded after a single use and never wiped down to be reused.

Antigen carry-over can have disastrous implications: If the same lancet is used to test you to a number of foods and you are allergic to the first, small amounts of allergen will be carried over to the subsequent tests and you may end up being labelled as allergic to various foods that you are not truly allergic to! That is why it is critical a single skin prick test be always used for skin testing. Make sure to demand that from any allergist who evaluates you.

We will never use the same skin test prick device for more than one allergen. Our goal will always be providing you with high quality medical care, no matter what the cost to us.





Oral Food Challenges

As we are a comprehensive allergy clinic with the goal of not just making an allergy diagnosis, an important part of our clinic are oral food challenges. This applies to only a very select number of patients in whom the diagnosis of a food allergy remains unclear after skin testing. If we have advised you that you or your family member has qualified or been scheduled for an oral food challenge, please read further




Contact Patch Allergy Testing

We are the only allergy practice in Calgary offering contact patch testing. Our staff are fully trained and has extensive experience in contact patch testing and is a Fellow of the American Contact Dermatitis Society.

Contact patch testing is done to determine if a particular substance is causing an allergic skin reaction. Contact patch testing involves three to four appointments, but have to be scheduled within within 2-5 days of the patch test being applied. We apply a strip containing allergens to your back that could be causing your symptoms. You typically wear the patch for 48 hours after it is applied. It should not be removed prior to that, as it invalidates the results.

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There is a charge to conduct patch testing and this unfortunately is not covered by your Alberta provincial health plan. In some instances, this may be covered by your insurance company, so we will provide you with a receipt. Please note that prepayment for this test is required.

On the third visit, we will interpret the results and provide you with a handout explaining what you may be possibly allergic to. It is important to understand that similar to any test in medicine, patch test positive results need to be correlated with the symptoms that you are having to determine whether that allergen is indeed the cause for your skin reaction.

If you have an appointment for contact patch testing with us, read this for more information.




What is different at our clinic?

Our physicians are highly trained and fully qualified/certified allergists, who uses evidence based practice to guide all aspects of your care. Simply put, evidence based practice analyzes studies and research to ensure that what we do is based on sound science and not simply 'because that's how it's been always done'. Evidence based practice guidelines have been put forth by both the American Academy of Allergy and Immunology and by the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. It is important to understand that unfortunately many of the current allergy practices in this city do not adhere to these expert, peer-reviewed guidelines, such as with food testing. This results in confusing and haphazard care being provided to patients.

What we do differently:

  • We use allergy specific skin test devices, not blood lancets to perform allergy tests. We discard the test device between each allergy test. We do not wipe down the device.

  • 100% of the skin allergy test fee goes towards the extracts and skin testing devices. We do not profit from the skin test fee that we charge our patients.

  • We skin prick test only if there is a clinical indication and do not do 'random food testing'. Studies have shown that if there is not a strong suggestion of anaphylaxis, random food testing is associated with a 30-40% falsely positive result. In those cases, it is important not to falsely diagnose you with a food allergy and make your life more challenging. Food testing will only be guided by clinical symptoms after exposure, with rare exceptions, such as for patients with moderate to severe eczema refractory to topical steroid management.

  • We do not do skin prick testing to evaluate for food sensitivities. Skin prick testing evaluates IgE allergies, which result in anaphylaxis (difficulty breathing, passing out etc). Sensitivities are cell mediated type IV reactions and do not appear on skin testing. Unfortunately, in some allergy practices, skin testing is nevertheless done due to their lack of knowledge. We recommend establishing a food diary. While this is cumbersome, it is currently the only way to determine if you have a sensitivity (apart from celiac disease and lactose intolerance, which is a test your family doctor can do).

  • We strongly caution patients against doing IgG testing, which is offered by various alternative practitioners at a cost of up to $600 as a 'test to evaluate for sensitivities'. This has never been shown to be the case in respectable peer-reviewed studies. Please refer to this expert statement.

  • We do not do skin prick testing for lactose intolerance or gluten intolerance. If you are concerned about lactose or gluten intolerance, your primary care doctor can order a lactose tolerance test or a celiac disease screen respectively (as this is not an allergy, we recommend your primary care doctor do this test).

  • We are the only allergy clinic in Calgary to offer contact patch testing, otherwise known as a 'skin allergy'. This is to determine if you have any allergic or non-allergic contact reaction to soaps, detergents or chemicals that contact your skin.

  • We have fully trained nurses in our clinic, who assists with skin testing, patch testing, allergy shots, education and spirometry (breathing tests). This is to ensure you receive qualified advice. In addition, they assist with oral food challenges, which are directly supervised by Dr. Hadi.






Hours of Operation:
Monday 0800-1500
Tuesday 0800-1500
Wednesday 0800-1500
Thursday 0800-1500
Friday 0800-1200
Weekends and Holidays: closed

Address:
Allergy Physicians Calgary
5918 - 3rd St SW
Calgary T2H 0H8

Telephone:
403-ALLERGY (403-255-3749)
Facsimile:
1-833-816-5734
(Second fax line: 403-457-8237)


Drs. Hadi, Hinther and Almatrafi are medical sub-specialists and per Alberta Health regulations see patients via referral only. If you have an emergency, please call 9-1-1 or go to the nearest hospital. If you have an urgent or semi-urgent medical need, please see your primary care physician for evaluation or advice.

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