In my last entry, I talked about 3 reasons why sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) has been slow in gaining acceptance: "turf wars" between ENT's and allergists, the "tomato effect" in medicine, and the commitment and work it would take an allergist to change his/her practice from SCIT to SLIT.  

But wait...there's more.

In pondering this issue and discussing it with my colleagues, an obvious answer exists--the proverbial "elephant in the room" that nobody discusses:  

Allergy society leadership.

Let's face it--many of our society leaders are academic allergists.  Their viewpoint--philosophically AND financially--is far different than the allergist "in the trenches"  coping on a daily basis with  competition for patients between ENT's, family physicians, chiropracters, etc...

Although I love to read the Annals, and the JACI, and delve into the esoterics of various allergy issues (I didn't know that prostatic kallikrein was a major dog allergen until now), I was trained as an engineer.  I do what works.  Practicality and positive results are what count--for my patients and for myself.  I've utilized SLIT in my practice since Feb, 1981.  And despite "competition" from local allergists using SCIT, I've more than managed to survive.  This "real world" experiment answers the question "can an allergist convert from SCIT to SLIT and still be successful?"  It's been done.  At least once!  

Later, Dude