They have sneezing, they have runny nose, they have nasal congestion, they have nasal drainage, they feel pain over the sinus areas, and for all practical purposes, they think they are allergic. Those symptoms are often considered synonymous with allergies. But indeed, they're not. Especially in adults, a large percent of patients have the symptoms, but don't have allergy. The important concept for people to understand is when you present with those symptoms, what you're expressing is a process in the nose called inflammation.
Inflammation produces swelling, weeping, and sneezing.
And that weeping can either run out the front or go down the back. Now, what people don't understand is that allergy is only one cause of that. When they come to see us for an allergy evaluation, they're quite surprised to find that they have no allergy at all. They have what we call chronic non-allergic rhinitis. An allergen is, by definition, a substance that is non-irritating.