The most common and cost effective way of finding out what substance/particle you are allergic to is to do a skin prick test. The picture above don't look that nice to the eyes, and trust me, it's not as bad as it looks.
When I took the skin prick test in 2002, what happened was that the nurse dis-infected my forearm with alcohol swaps and drew a large rectangle on my forearm, and divided it into 20 smaller squares, labeling them with numbers. She told me that it will most definitely itch a little, and told me not to scratch my forearm.
Then, she left and returned with a tray with little bottles of clear liquid. She proceeded to make a tiny prick in each of the square using the different liquids. It didn't hurt at all actually. I was asked to wait for about 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, they gave me a short video to watch regarding allergy and stuff.
After 15 minutes, my forearm looked somewhat like the image above, with a few small bumps, some larger that the others. However, some of the squares didn't have any swollen marks at all. She then recorded the results on a sheet of paper, which came back with information like this :
Inhalant Allergen (Score) :
Positive (1+)
Negative (0)
Der P (1+)
Der F (2+)
Cat Hair (0)
Dog Epithelia (0)
Bermuda Grass (0)
Bahia Grass (0)
Mugworth Common (0)
Acacia (0)
Melaluca Pollen (0)
Aspergillus FUmigatus (0)
Alternaria Tenius (0)
Penicullium Notatum (0)
Kapok Seeds (0)
Cotton Linens (0)
Cockroach American (1+)
Cockroach Germanic (1+)
Mixed Feathers (0)
Depending on the size of the small swollen bump..
0 : Undetectable
1+ : Low
2+ : Moderate
3+ : High
And that's it! Tadah! I'm allergic to Der P, Der F, American Cockroach and Germanic Cockroach. If I'm not wrong, Der P and Der F refers to dust mites. Depending on where you live, your list of allergens should be different to test what you're actually allergic to. If a skin prick test is readily available to you, I'll advise you to take it as soon as possible!
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