剛來到診症室，她就急不及待要分享她的「戰史」：「我已看過不下十個皮膚科醫生，甚麼暗瘡藥、抗生素也都用過，情況還沒有改善過來。」Isabella的額頭上滿佈粉刺和膿胞，兩頰皮膚都是凹凸不平的瘡疤，相信她真的被暗瘡折磨很多年了。性格剛強的她強忍著淚水說：「我還使用含控油去角質成分的護膚品，每晚更使用清潔控油面膜，但這一切都全無幫助。我亦很注意飲食，所有「燥熱」的食物當然可免則免，更不用說燒鵝、牛肉和蝦蟹，就算夏天的芒果、荔枝，我也多年沒有吃過。

聽到她的情況，我就開始詳細問診，希望找出頑固病情的根源，再對症下藥，於是我由她的日常飲食問起。她說﹕「我已經吃得很健康了！我早餐喝牛奶、吃麵包，午餐很多時候會吃三文治或湯麵，這比較不會發胖嘛！」這聽起來很有道理，於是我接著問﹕「你經常吃麵包嗎？」她回答說﹕「是啊！我是無麵包不歡的，因為暗瘡關係我連最愛的薯片也戒掉了，所以現在最愛的食物只有麵包了…」

聽罷我已經心裡有數，並建議Isabella接受食物過敏測試，看看是否食物過敏作祟。聽到我的建議，她有點懷疑，然後說：「暗瘡和食物過敏怎麼說也拉不上關係吧？」說到暗瘡的成因，一般人普遍認為是油脂分泌過盛，但很少人知道油脂分泌過盛可能是由食物過敏帶來的發炎反應所引起。以Isabella為例，乳製品、蛋類和小麥麩質等東方人常見的食物致敏原，剛好是她常吃的東西。正因為主流醫學療法對她來說也不太見效，因此我就嘗試從食物方面替她分析。而ELISA過敏測試是種精確的化驗技術，近年於歐美等地，許多醫生都已將這科技應用在臨床診斷上。

Isabella最後接受了食物過敏測試。結果如我所料，她對小麥麩質和乳製品都有強烈的延遲性過敏反應。於是我為她安排合適的飲食餐單，並建議她服用一些抗炎的健康食品。個多月後，她的肌膚狀況明顯好轉，我再為她安排各種Laser和微針療法，處理暗瘡留下的色素和疤痕。就是這樣，困擾她多年的暗瘡問題終於獲得解決。

過敏可分為4大類，而和食物有關的就有I型和III型。食物過敏其實與我們近在咫尺，只是一般人都沒有留意到而已。要細說過敏最少要用上幾頁篇幅，在此我略作介紹：

I型（或稱即時性過敏）是由IgE抗體所引起。當致敏原進入身體，免疫系統會馬上產生大量 IgE 抗體來對抗，在短時間內產生很強烈的徵狀，如呼吸困難、風疹、面腫等等。

III型（或延遲性反應）是由IgG抗體所引起。它的病徵較為難以發現，症狀可能會在接觸到致敏原後幾小時甚至幾日才出現。都市人常見的長期疲勞、關節炎、濕疹、頭痛、水腫和很多其他慢性疾病都可以是因為未被發現或未被理會的IgG抗體所引致。

Article is contributed by Dr. Grace Lam, MSc. In Dermatology.
Being a doctor, it is quite usual that your friends would seek your advice when they have health concerns. I met my old schoolmate, Isabella, in an alumni reunion not long ago. She was troubled by severe skin problem and would like me to give her some advices.

"I met couple of dermatologists, and tried to take all kinds of medicine like antibiotics." Isabella could not wait to pour out what she has suffered. Her forehead was covered with acnes and pustules, not to mention the scars and blemishes on her chins. It was so obvious that she had been tortured by her skin disorder for many years. "I supposed those oil-control skincare products can ease the problem, but that is not the case," she choked back her tears and murmured, "I watched my diet, avoided eating common allergic food like beef and shrimp."

Then, I kept asking about her eating habit, hoping to find out the root cause of her skin problem.. "I used to have milk and bread for breakfast; and sandwiches or noodles for lunch." I continued asking, "Do you eat bread very often?". "Yup!I have avoided eating potato chips for the sake of my skin, so bread is now my only favorite." She answered.

I recommended Isabella to take an Aller-Food Check. "Is there any correlation between acnes and food allergy?." She asked suspiciously. It is widely believed that excessive oil secretion is the major cause of acnes, but indeed excessive oil secretion could be attributed to inflammation caused by food allergy.

Nowadays, more and more medical practitioners from western countries employ ELISA, the technology gives highly accurate testing results, on clinical diagnosis for food allergy. Isabella, for example, likes to have foods containing milk, egg and gluten, which are common allergic foods for Asian. All the efforts she spared were in vain, that is exactly the reason why I analyze her case from a perspective on food and diet.

Finally, Isabella has taken the test. She was found highly allergic to gluten and diary product as expected, so I drafted a custom-made diet plan for her and recommended her to take some anti-inflammatory health supplement. A month later, her skin condition was improved significantly. Microneedle therapy and laser treatments were applied to her afterwards to deal with scars and pigmentations. At last, we solved the obstinate acnes problem successfully.

Allergy is so common among us, with its impact to our health being overlooked. It can be divided into 4 types, type I and type III are usually related to food.

Type I (or immediate allergy) is triggered by IgE. When allergens go into our body, our immune system would response immediately. Severe symptoms like dyspnea, urticaria and swollen face emerge in a short period of time.

Type III (or delayed allergy) is triggered by IgG. It is usually much less obvious and thus more difficult to discover. Reaction may occur up to several hours or days after contact with allergens. Common lifestyle disease like chronic fatigue, arthritis, eczema, headaches, water retention and many other chronic symptoms are often the legacy of unrealized and untreated IgG mediated allergic reactions.

HK BioTek現已登陸facebook！我們將透過平台向大眾提供各類健康資訊和優惠，請按此獲得詳細資料。
HK BioTek is now on facebook! We will provide the most updated information through this platform. Please click here for more detail.

如對健康資訊感興趣或想跟讀者分享您的健康心得，歡迎電郵至info@hkbiotek.com，讓我們一起為健康生活增值！
If you would like to learn more on a certain topic or are interested in sharing your idea on our newsletter! Please email us at info@hkbiotek.com, we would love to hear from you!