Peanut Allergy Clinic

Treating children and young people with nut allergies to transform lives and liberate family life.

Who We Are

We are one of the only centres in the UK to offer treatment for peanut allergy. Our clinic is part of Southampton Children’s Hospital, an internationally accredited centre for research and treatment for allergies in children and young people. We provide state of the art treatment for peanut allergy and work with families to give this life changing therapy.

What Do We Do

We use oral immunotherapy to treat children and young people with peanut allergy. We start with tiny amounts of peanut allergen and gradually increase it as tolerated. Over time the immune system gets used to the presence of peanut and starts to relax. This is called desensitisation, it increases the amount of peanut that will trigger an allergic reaction until you are “bite safe” and reduces the risk of an accident with a peanut contaminated food.

It’s not the same as a complete cure, but it is a huge step forward, a disease modifying treatment for peanut allergy, and for the right families it makes all the difference in the world. We use a licensed prescription only treatment and you will be supervised by an expert team of doctors and nurses throughout your care.

Why Choose Us

Medical Expertise

A team of specialist allergy doctors run the service and are readily available for help and guidance.

Accredited Centre

Southampton Children’s Hospital is a recognised centre of excellence for paediatrics and the management of children’s allergies.

Clinical Specialists

The doctors and nurses who work within the peanut allergy service are all highly trained in the field of allergic conditions, their treatments and management.

Children Centered

The health professionals within our peanut allergy team have all received specialist training in paediatrics and will always prioritise the health and needs of the child and young person.

Working With Babies & Infants

Peanut immunotherapy is currently licensed for children from the age of 4. Studies are underway to explore if this treatment can be used in younger children and the results from this are looking very promising. We are happy to assess younger children for a peanut allergy and discuss future options with you.

Our hope is that immunotherapy will soon be an option for younger children too, as children’s immune systems are more modifiable at a young age. Children given immunotherapy early are more likely to be able to tolerate higher levels of peanut without reacting. Please contact us for more information.

Working With Children & Teens

As peanut immunotherapy is only licensed to age 17 years, many families are keen to start their teenage children on this before their opportunity to change their tolerance level has passed. Teenagers are keen to live a full life without worry about their allergy but understandably, this can cause a great deal of angst to parents who are used to monitoring what they eat, accompanying them to restaurants, on holidays and liaising with schools about their allergies.

Whilst deaths from anaphylaxis are thankfully, extremely rare, we sadly know that they are more likely to occur in teenagers and young adults. Immunotherapy offers a very real hope to protect teenagers against anaphylaxis to peanuts and allows them to live a ‘normal’ life as they go off to university or the workplace.