Management of allergy-related serous otitis

Avoidance or elimination of the major offending food items or indoor problematic allergens can help many patients with allergy-related otologic problems. Other patients can be helped by immunotherapy. For symptom relief, the patients' total exposure must be less than their symptom threshold level. The bottom line must be an effort to find the easiest, simplest, safest, and most economical method to relieve symptoms. By eliminating the cause of the medical problem, it is often possible to obviate not only the need for surgery, but also the necessity to mask the patients' symptoms with medications.