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MONDAY, Aug. 16 (HealthDayNews) -- Applying a pollen-blocking cream to the inside of your nose may help reduce allergy symptoms, suggests a study in the August issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.
The cream is designed to create a barrier that traps allergens before they travel too far into the nose.
The study included 91 people, aged 18 to 55, with allergic rhinitis. Forty-three of them received the pollen blocker cream and 48 received a placebo gel. The products were applied to the lower part of the nostrils four times per day for nine days.
The study participants were exposed to increasing concentrations of allergens until they had an allergic reaction. Their symptoms were rated on a scale of one to four, with four being the worst.
Among those using the pollen-blocking cream, the median symptom score dropped from four to one, compared with a drop from four to three in the placebo group. There was about a 20 percent improvement in nasal airflow among the users of the cream, compared with about a 10 percent improvement among those using the placebo.
"The blocker was significantly more effective than placebo and reduced the typical symptoms of allergic rhinitis in response to nasal challenge with allergen by nearly 60 percent (placebo reduced symptoms by 25 percent)," the study authors wrote.
"The pollen blocker cream did not produce any adverse effects. Therefore, the efficacy of the investigational product can be rated as good," they wrote.
More information
The American Medical Association has more about allergies.
(SOURCE: JAMA/Archives journals, news release, Aug. 16, 2004)
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