Allergy & Asthma Care for Clearwater

Two Clearwaters, two allergy stories

Clearwater is big enough to have genuinely different allergy environments inside one city limit, and where you sleep matters more than where you work.

• Out on the sand — Clearwater Beach, Sand Key and the Island Estates side live with salt air, coastal humidity and, in bloom years, Gulf red tide. Red tide releases irritants into the sea spray that commonly cause coughing, throat irritation and wheezing, and people with asthma feel it first.
• East of the Intracoastal — Countryside, Del Oro, the Gulf-to-Bay corridor and the neighborhoods along Belcher Road sit in oak and other tree canopy. Late winter and spring pollen there is a completely different exposure, and it does not blow out to sea. Due to multiple factors, including climate change, that tree pollen season has become longer and more symptomatic, and pine trees generally do not cause significant respiratory allergy.
• Everywhere — a humid Gulf climate keeps indoor mold and dust mites in play twelve months a year, which is why so many Clearwater patients describe symptoms that never fully stop. Family cats and dogs can also cause respiratory allergies year-round.

The drive is easier than you think

From downtown Clearwater or the Missouri Avenue corridor, Alternate US-19 runs south and simply becomes Seminole Boulevard. Stay on it and you arrive at the Largo Professional Center, 11200 Seminole Blvd, Suite 310. From Countryside or the north end, Belcher Road south to Ulmerton and west is usually the cleaner route than fighting US-19 at rush hour. From the beach, come across Memorial Causeway or drop south along Gulf Boulevard and cross at the Belleair Causeway.

It is a short enough trip that allergy shot appointments, which are scheduled with our dedicated allergy shot nurse, stay realistic over the long term — and that is the difference between a treatment plan that works and one that gets abandoned in month four.

What we treat, for the whole household

Sher Allergy Specialists offers children, adults, and families the opportunity to live their best lives without the stress and danger of allergic conditions. Our Allergists are board certified in Pediatrics as well as Allergy and Immunology, so one practice can handle the eight-year-old with eczema, the teenager with exercise-induced asthma and the grandparent with chronic sinusitis.

That list includes nasal and environmental allergy, all types of asthma, sinusitis and nasal polyps, eye allergy, hives, eczema and contact skin allergy, food allergy, drug allergy, stinging insect allergy, eosinophilic disorders and immune deficiency disorders.

Chronic cough and throat clearing get their own attention here. Dr. Sher is a world-renowned cough expert, and Sher Allergy patients with persistent cough can be seen in the specialized Center For Cough clinic — the same office, at the same address.

One visit that actually accomplishes something

The single most important factor in diagnosing allergy, asthma, chronic cough and sinus disorders is a well-informed patient. Your first visit is built around that: we listen to your allergy story, review your medical history thoroughly, examine you, and strive to perform allergy testing and interpretation on the same day when possible. You should leave with a diagnosis and treatment steps.

Allergy skin tests provide maximum information with minimum discomfort and risk. They are essentially painless, administered quickly, and the optimal number of tests is applied — not the maximum number that can be billed. Where blood testing, FeNO, spirometry, an oral food challenge or rhinoscopy adds something, those are available in this office as well. At Sher Allergy Specialists, your allergy skin tests are personally measured and read by a physician or physician assistant, with physician oversight and interpretation, rather than simply recorded by a technician or medical assistant for later review.

Common questions from Clearwater patients