Hay fever can be either perennial (all year round) or seasonal (namely spring/summer) and can have a significant impact on children and adults leading to missed exams, absent work days and generally poor performance.

Symptoms are due to excess fluid in the facial tissues and similar to a common cold such as runny or blocked, itchy nose with sneezing, and red itchy watery and even puffy eyes. This happens when your immune system overreacts to allergens e.g. pollen/dust mite droppings/mould spores in the air that are sucked into the nose on inhaling.

What is Rhinolight?

It has been known for decades that light has anti-inflammatory properties e.g. Eczema/rashes in general often improve on holiday in a sunny climate and in fact light treatment is a very successfulmethod for treating psoriasis and eczema.

The allergic changes occurring in the nasal lining in hay fever sufferers is similar to skin changes in eczema sufferers, so in 2001, developers started working on the concept of how to get light therapy into the nose. The result of this long research was the Rhinolight machine that shines a high-intensity light of special composition into each nostril for 2-3 minutes every few days; the results have been impressive for this non-medication treatment of hay fever.

ROC was the first clinic in the UK to provide this latest treatment to its patients.

Do I need any tests before treatment with Rhinolight?

Yes. Allergic rhinitis must be proven (e.g. by skin prick testing or blood tests etc) and the causal allergen needs to be known before a treatment plan is booked, as there are different courses available for different types of allergy, and Rhinolight will not work for patients with non-allergic rhinitis.

At ROC Clinic we can offer allergy testing as above, so if necessary, please enquire about our Allergy Consultations for more information.

Alternatively, if you have had allergy testing elsewhere, then please book in for a 30-minute appointment to discuss your symptoms, review your test results and examine your nose. We will then decide whether you are likely to benefit from Rhinolight and how many treatment sessions you may need.

How is treatment delivered?

  • For seasonal rhinitis (only in the spring/summer months) the suggested treatment protocol is 6 sessions of up to 3 minutes per nostril over a 2-week period.
  • For all-year-round rhinitis (rhinitis that persists throughout the year) the suggested treatment protocol is 3 sessions of up to 3 minutes treatment per nostril in the first week, then once weekly sessions for the next 5 weeks, to complete a 6-week course.

When will I get better?

Rhinolight treatment can also be used in conjunction with typical hay fever treatments such as antihistamines or nasal steroid sprays etc.

It is a painless, quick treatment and the patients’ quality of life sometimes improves after just one or two treatments. The treatment, however, does not work for everyone, but the success rate is around 90%. Most patients felt symptom clearance only when they reached sessions 6, 7 or 8 (or session 10 in severe cases).

If you would like to enquire about this great new treatment, please get in touch.

Will Rhinolight cure my nasal allergy symptoms?

No, there are no guarantees of success but based on the results of the many thousands of patients across Europe already treated with U/V phototherapy there is every reason to be optimistic that this will be a successful strategy for your nose/sinus issues.

To book an appointment or find out more about how we can help, simply fill in and submit the contact form

 

6 Responses

  1. I have been undergoing Rhinolight treatment and am on my seventh session now. I grew up having hayfever quite severely and tried pretty much all the medicines for allergies over the years, nothing ever really worked and as I got older I suffered from hayfever all year round and my symptoms were constant. A couple months ago I found the ROC clinic and found out about the rhinolight treatment and started it straight away! Currently I haven’t had symptoms for about 4 weeks and before the treatment I used to have severe allergy symptoms about 5 times a week on average! I can really feel the differences since undergoing the treatment, which for someone who felt as though they had chronic allergies, has been amazing! Would 100% recommend to anyone suffering from allergies!

    1. Hi Ruby, we are so happy to hear you are feeling better and hope we can help many more people with their allergies in the future.

  2. I recently completed a course of Rhinolight as I suffer from allergic rhinitis, in particular with certain pollen and house dust mites. My symptoms were fairly severe, with sneezing fits, a constantly runny nose and nighttime congestion that hampered my sleep.

    Whilst the impact of the treatment wasn’t instantly noticeable (I didn’t have a ‘eureka’ moment), now that the course is over it’s clear that it’s made a massive difference to my day to day existence. I no longer need packets of tissues with me wherever I go, and I am sleeping through the night!

    I really wish more people knew about Rhinolight as I genuinely believe it can be a gamechanger for those who suffer from allergies.

    1. Hi Rachel, we are delighted to hear of your impressive improvement. Thank you very much for endorsing this treatment and we hope to be able to help many more in the future.

  3. Last autumn, my 12-year old daughter developed asthma which was linked to allergies, especially hay fever.

    Following Professor Fox’ advice, we started a rhinolight treatment in May/June. This really helped with her rhinitis and contributed to a marked improvement for her asthma that is now under control.

    Thank you to the whole ROC Clinic team and in particular Nurse Rebecca

  4. I’m appreciative that you mentioned using rhinolight therapy in addition to more traditional hay fever medications like antihistamines or nasal steroid spray. It’s really great that a lot of allergy treatment is being developed today to combat the disease. It must be really hard to have an allergy and asthma, after all.

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