Are there any long-term effects from allergic reactions?
Allergic reactions which occur in the sinuses or the lungs repeatedly year after year may actually result in a change in the anatomy of the body part being affected. For example, if asthma symptoms are allowed to occur without adequate control, then the inflammation involved in the disease will cause the lungs to misbehave forever regardless of continued therapy. In the past it was believed that asthma did not result in emphysema. However, recent research has indicated that a patient suffering from asthma which is out of control may develop a form of emphysema, or fixed airways disease, which is not reversible. Asthma by its very definition, means a reversible airway obstruction which is accompanied by allergic inflamation in 90% of the cases.
