Colorado ENT & Allergy offers the full range of pediatric ENT, Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology testing and treatments. If you suspect your child has an issue, contact our office to schedule an appointment to see one of our board-certified otolaryngologists or allergists.
Pediatric Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
Dr. Caplan and Dr. Hanson trained in Pediatrics before their fellowship in Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, so they have a special medical interest in caring for children! Morgan Dahms, PA-C, also enjoys and has experience with pediatric patients.
Asthma
Asthma is the most common chronic health condition in children. Asthma can lead to coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and chest tightness. This can limit essential activities like sleep and physical activity. Asthma cannot be cured but can be well controlled for most patients with the right combination of medications. Our providers will work with you and your child to accurately diagnose asthma, educate you about this condition, and find a safe and effective medication regimen. The goals of reasonable asthma control are sleeping through the night without asthma symptoms, fully participating in physical activity, rarely missing school due to asthma, and infrequently needing oral steroid courses, ER or Urgent Care visits (0-1 time per year).
Allergies
Allergies to pollen, mold, animals, etc., are common in childhood. Although allergies seem like a relatively minor health problem, they can be highly disruptive to daily life. Many children with allergies have sleep disturbance and a hard time focusing at school. They may also have to limit being outdoors at certain times of the year or avoid animal exposure. Our team is highly skilled at allergy skin testing and identifying the specific allergens your child is sensitive to. Once the specific allergens are known, our providers will work with you and your child to develop a treatment plan that may include avoidance, medications, and allergy immunotherapy (shots or drops).
Food Allergies
Food allergies have unfortunately become more common over time, with most school classrooms having at least one child with a potentially dangerous food allergy. The most common food allergens are milk, egg, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, and sesame. With this type of allergy, reactions typically start quickly after eating a food and can involve skin findings like hives and itching, swelling, coughing, wheezing, difficulty breathing, and vomiting. In severe reactions, children may have low blood pressure and feel dizzy, lightheaded, or even pass out. Because these reactions are potentially life-threatening, it is critical to get an accurate diagnosis to avoid the food (or foods) appropriately.
There are many nuances to food allergy testing, so an allergy specialist best diagnoses this type of food allergy. It is also imperative to have ongoing follow up with an allergist to be sure the allergy is tracked over time because some food allergies can be outgrown. Our allergy providers and staff are experienced in diagnosing food allergies, educating families on how to read labels, when and how to use epinephrine auto-injectors, etc. We would welcome the opportunity to work with your family if you have concerns about a food allergy or have an existing food allergy.
Food intolerances or sensitivities
Some children will experience bloating, gas, stomach pain, constipation, diarrhea, rashes, etc. when certain foods are ingested. Food allergy testing may or may not be appropriate for these reactions. Sometimes, if an allergy specialist does not carefully interpret the results, food allergy testing might lead to unnecessary avoidance of foods. Our providers will discuss your child’s symptoms with you to determine whether food allergy testing makes sense or if other approaches would be more effective in identifying food triggers.
Eczema
Eczema is a recurrent skin rash that is extremely itchy and bothersome. Many things, including allergens, weather changes, infections, fragrances, etc., can trigger it. Eczema can improve significantly with a good skin care regimen, but sometimes, topical medications are also needed. Many parents wonder if their child’s eczema might be related to allergies; allergy testing can help determine this. Our providers have a lot of experience treating eczema and identifying and treating allergic triggers.
Penicillin Allergy
It is not uncommon for children to have rashes with antibiotics, most commonly amoxicillin. This does not necessarily indicate a true penicillin allergy that requires long-term avoidance. Children frequently have a rash as a side effect of amoxicillin, or their infection will cause a rash. Our allergy providers are skilled at safely evaluating children for true penicillin allergy vs. these other types of reactions and can help “clear” the allergy in most cases. This is always a relief to parents and their primary care providers because amoxicillin is the best choice for many childhood infections like strep throat, ear infections, sinus infections, and pneumonia.
Pediatric ENT (Ear, Nose & Throat)
At Colorado ENT & Allergy, we take pride in caring for our sizeable pediatric patient population. Our ENT providers are explicitly trained in pediatric ENT care and have extensive experience treating a full spectrum of pediatric ENT conditions.
Many children develop ear conditions that warrant ENT care throughout their lives. Among the most common ear issues we treat at Colorado ENT & Allergy are ear infections, specifically recurrent or chronic ear infections, chronic otitis media, chronic serous otitis media, tympanic membrane perforations, hearing loss, and cholesteatoma. Many young children have underdeveloped eustachian tubes and chronic eustachian tube dysfunction. Undeveloped eustachian tubes lead to poor ear ventilation and, ultimately, to chronic ear infections. Our providers offer a wide range of treatment options for chronic ear infections in children, most commonly ear tube placement, which dramatically decreases the frequency of ear infections in children and allows us to avoid ongoing needed courses of oral antibiotics and to treat ear infections with eardrops. Some children, throughout their lives, may develop chronic eardrum perforations related to a history of ear infections or chronic eustachian tube dysfunction. Our surgeons are experts in performing pediatric tympanoplasty surgery to repair eardrum perforations. More rarely, children can develop chronic ear cysts or neck cysts called branchial cleft cysts, which may ultimately require surgery. Again, our surgeons are frequently consulted to address these issues in children. Finally, many parents are concerned about their child’s hearing, hearing ability, and speech development. Upon evaluating these patients in our office, we can perform comprehensive hearing testing on these children to ensure they have normal hearing.
Many children we see are referred for chronic nasal congestion, snoring, tonsillitis, tonsil hypertrophy, and sleep apnea. After a child has been on allergy medication and nasal sprays and continues to experience chronic nasal congestion, perhaps snoring, and maybe even sleep apnea, we are often consulted to intervene at this point. Many children develop large tonsils and adenoids early on in life, and tonsils/adenoids cause airway resistance and obstruction. This leads to loud snoring, chronic nasal congestion, and sleep apnea. At Colorado ENT, our surgeons are well-versed in the comprehensive management of these patients, offering nonsurgical and surgical options, most commonly tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. Many children wake up from this surgery with complete resolution of their nasal congestion, snoring, and sleep apnea. We work closely with pediatric sleep specialists in town to ensure our pediatric patients have the best possible sleep at night and ensure we ultimately cure any underlying sleep apnea.
Along with removing tonsils and adenoids for nasal congestion and sleep apnea, many children, especially school-aged children, will develop problems with chronic tonsillitis and chronic strep throat infections. Once a child has met a specific frequency of these infections, has been on multiple rounds of antibiotics, and continues to be diagnosed with recurrent tonsillitis or strep throat, our surgeons will offer tonsillectomy, which typically cures this issue and leads to significant improvement in quality of life, less antibiotic usage and less missed days at school.
Chronic sinus problems are also sometimes seen in children. We can perform comprehensive nasal and sinus evaluations on children in our office, including nasal scopes and CT scans of the sinuses and nose. We may diagnose anatomical abnormalities such as enlarged nasal turbinates, deviated nasal septum, and chronic sinus infection. We have both nonsurgical and surgical treatment options that we offer to parents to ensure that children continue to breathe adequately through their noses. When a child is thought to have allergies, our pediatric allergists go down the hall to perform allergy testing and begin appropriate allergy treatments.
In addition to the abovementioned diagnoses and treatments, we perform a comprehensive exam on every pediatric patient in our clinic. We treat children for a whole host of other pediatric ear, nose, and throat conditions as well. Many parents prefer our clinic for their child’s ENT care because we are typically able to see and treat children in a timely fashion without significant delays. We understand the importance of keeping children in their best health as they continue to develop throughout life. We treat our pediatric patients in our offices, surgery centers, and at the Children’s Hospital in town if needed. If your child has an ear, nose, or throat issue, please reach out to us for a consultation, and we will ensure your child is provided top-notch care in a timely fashion.
