A Look At Air Purifiers- Do They Help Allergies?
As allergy sufferers look for ways of obtaining some allergy
relief, this question has been posed many times. The use of an
air purifier may help with your allergies if you are allergic to
airborne allergens (things like dust mites, pollen, or pet
dander). However, the degree of relief obtained really depends
on many factors, many of which are under your own control.
First, you need to understand what an air purifier is and how it
works. An air purifier is a stand-alone unit which is typically
placed in one room for the purpose of cleansing the air. It is
effective only in the room in which it is placed. The method
through which an air purifier works varies by make and model.
Some units contain a filter inside that will need to be either
cleaned periodically or replaced entirely. Ionic air purifiers
use the method of ionization to both trap allergen particles in
the filter and force airborne particulate to adhere to surfaces
in the room and not stay in the air where they may be inhaled.
Another type of filter that may help with allergy relief is an
air filter that is placed in your home's A/C unit. This filter
then cleanses the air that is pumped throughout your home and
will affect the air quality in every room. The air filter needs
to be cleaned on a monthly basis. The best way to use air
purifiers is in conjunction with other measures. These include
the reduction of allergenic substances in your environment as
much as possible. If you know that you are allergic to dust,
then by all means do whatever is necessary to remove the dust
from your home. Use a combination of methods such as steam
cleaning the carpets or even removing carpeting altogether. Put
dust mite encasements on all bedding.
For our family we have found the use of air purifiers to be
beneficial. We use an air purifier unit in each of the bedrooms.
The filters in these air purifiers are cleaned on a regular
basis. An allergy-free filter is also installed in our home's
A/C unit, which has really cut down on the dust throughout our
entire home. After a lengthy discussion with our allergist, we
removed nearly all the carpeting in our home and now use vinyl
flooring throughout. Of course, dust mite encasements are used
on all the beds (mattresses and box springs) in the house.
While I cannot say that we are entirely allergy free, careful
attention to these measures has allowed our family to experience
some allergy relief. We even take an air purifier with us while
on vacation, to purifier and cleanse the air in the hotel room!