What is a RAST allergy test and what does it involve?

Question

What is a RAST allergy test and what does it involve?

Answer 1

It is a blood test and it shows if you have allergies.   Skin testing is much better.  

Answer 2

RAST stands for Radioallergosorbent test. It is a blood test used to find whether a person is allergic to something.

The presence of specific antibodies to a particular allergen is

normally done by a skin allergy test.

But in RAST a person's blood is extracted and the amount of IgE that reacts specifically with an extract of the suspected allergen is tested.

For example if a person shows a high content of IgE to a particular pollen  it may indicate that he is allergic to that pollen.

I am a medical doctor