A 34-old-woman presented with a long history of runny nose, sneezing, itchy throat, and itchy eyes. She mentioned that her symptoms that exacerbated between June-July, now occur anytime during the year. These symptoms made her feel uncomfortable throughout the day and disturbed sleep at night. She has been diagnosed with seasonal allergic rhinitis in the past and had been prescribed antihistamines. This time, in addition to antihistamines, nasal saline drops were recommended. On follow-up visit after a month, significant reduction was observed in severity as well as frequency of her symptoms. Antihistamines were stopped and she was asked to continue nasal saline drops for another month to further improve the symptoms.

The researchers have suggested that saline may be an effective option for ameliorating symptoms of allergic rhinitis. Accruing data indicates that in comparison to no saline, saline therapy can help in reducing patient‐reported disease severity, with no adverse effects.¹

Reference

1. Head K, Snidvongs K, Glew S, et al. Saline irrigation for allergic rhinitis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018;6(6):CD012597.