Bar on the forehead, fatigue, sneezing, conjunctivitis, asthma: many people are more and more bothered by grass pollens at the moment. They have appeared with the high temperatures of recent weeks. So much so that, in his last map published on May 29, the National Aerobiological Surveillance Network (RNSA) has classified almost all of the territory in red with pollen allergies. All of Ile-de-France is affected, except Paris, the Hauts de Seine and the Val de Marne, classified orange.
“Biological pollution”
Doctor Pierrick Hordé, allergist in Boulogne-Billancourt, in the Hauts-de-Seine, has been inundated with calls from patients for three weeks but “it has accelerated since the Pentecost weekend“.”There was a first wave in March-April with birch pollens. But for the past three weeks, grass pollen has been rife all over France, it has accelerated considerably in recent days. We receive calls, patients want to consult but we have no place, people we usually deal with who go well and are very embarrassed“, specifies the allergist, also editorial director of Particulier santé.”Treatments are less effective than in previous years“, he adds.
For me who has been consulting for more than 35 years, it is unprecedented.
Doctor Pierrick Hordé, allergist in Boulogne-Billancourt
“This year, we had a very special configuration because the weather was very nice: very few days of bad weather and rain, therefore absolutely incredible weather conditions especially in recent weeks. This means that all the plants have released a lot of allergenic proteins. These pollens from plants, flowers and trees, emit allergenic proteins, which will be assimilated to pollutants because it is so violent. It will even reach people who have never had allergies this year.
Today, we have lots of patients who tell us: I don’t understand, I am 60 years old, I never had any allergies to pollens. There is such natural pollution that it will affect people who had never had allergies.
Doctor Pierrick Hordé, allergist in Boulogne-Billancourt
Doctor Pierrick Hordé estimates that up to 40% more calls are from new patients. The patients he was already following are even more embarrassed than before. “It remains incommensurate, I have treated patients who were doing very well, who took few drugs during the season and there it is not enough, you have to double the antihistamine doses, it’s very complicated“, he explains.
According to him, a “simple advice” allows to be less embarrassed: you have to rinse your hair with water in the evening to “remove all the pollens that may have accumulated during the day and that are likely to settle on the pillow. You risk sucking them again at night at the level of the nose and eyes. “ This advice is valid for the hair but also for the beard and the mustache, where pollens can also hang.
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