Episode 4 - Do Air Purifiers Help Allergic Rhinitis?
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Amber: Do air purifiers actually work? Welcome back to Allergy, Actually! 

Today, we're going to dive into in-home air purifiers, and we're not talking about the ones that go in your furnace, which is kind of a whole separate ball game. Um, but we're talking about the portable ones that sit on the floor in your living room, your bedroom.

Um, they're all different types, uh, but who wants to start diving into what type of patient do we recommend an air purifier for? Is it everybody or just certain allergies?


Who Needs an Air Purifier for Allergies?
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Kara: So, it seem there definitely, you know, is some benefit in general when we look at data from the EPA, our indoor air quality is known to generally actually be lower or worse than outdoor air quality. And so I think, you know, for folks that have sensitive airways who are prone to allergies, in my case, I have an autoimmune condition called Sjogren's that can affect my airways and my lungs.

It's reasonable to consider healthy and clean air, you know, being really important. Just like filtered water and, you know, uh, the, the things we put on our skin, the food we eat. That being said, there's better data to support its usefulness in certain instances. 

Amber: Sure. 

Meagan: So for instance, if I have a patient who is allergic to dust mite only, which is, you know, in, in the US at least, it's fairly rare that we have what we call mono-sensitized patients, meaning just allergic to one allergen. And, um, we usually have, um, patients who are multi-sensitized to multiple different things.

But for instancelooking for an air filter for that is probably not gonna be all that helpful because dust mite is very heavy. And I always tell my patients, your main exposure is going to be in your bed and in soft places and things like that. But when it comes to having pets and pollen, mold spores, things like that, that do float around in the air, um, it is definitely worth it to think about getting an air filter.

I always tell my patients, whenever you open your bedroom door, the things that are gonna be in the air, pollen, mold, animal dander, dust mite is in the room, but it's not floating around. 

Amber: Yep. That's how, that's what I recommend for my patients too. Um, but I think to your point, Kara, there are probably other reasons people might wanna have an air purifier, but if your only concern is treating your allergies, you, you wanna be treating the things that are in the air.

Here's the question I get from my patients. 


How to Choose the Right Size Air Purifier
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Amber: How big of an air purifier should I get?

So I usually say most manufacturers will put on the packaging the square footage that it covers. So you wanna look at that and you wanna know how big of a space you're trying to clean. So for most patients with allergies, start with your bedroom. You wanna make sure that your sleeping environment, where you probably spend the most timeproportionally of your whole day is in your bedroom. Start there.

And so check out the square footage of your bedroom. Look at the air purifier labeling and that'll help you know if you need small, medium, large, or whatever size. 

Um, the next step would probably be the main living space, which is usually bigger. So you're gonna need a bigger air purifier for that space.

Kara: And then I would say third on my list, and this is because I now primarily have been working from home, is my home office. Because I am spending probably just as much time there as I am in my bedroom, um, at least for the time being. 

Amber: And so work, yeah. Whether it be at home or at a physical place elsewhere, you're right, is another place to think about getting one. 

Meagan: Um, like in our medical office, we have air purifiers in each room. And that actually started after COVID. It wasn't something we did before that. But then, I came to think like for an allergist office, it's probably not a bad idea because, for instance, for pets, those allergens, for cat especially are very sticky and we carry it on our clothes. And so I think, do we all have a cat?

Kara: I do not. 

Meagan: Okay. Well, Yeah, we both have cats and so I always think, "Oh my gosh, I'm exposing my poor patients to all of the things at my house "and having those air purifiers in there help whenever I, you know, walk out. And then you have some time in between patients.

Kara: That's really smart. I always, I always kind of had this often when I was in the office, we would occasionally have patients with service dogs. And I, you know, absolutely wanna support those anyone who, who has a service dog, right?

And also, I'm taking care of folks are allergic to the service animals. And so there's like this, ooh, competing like, "do no harm," like, right? And so I think that that's really smart. And, and we had aa large unit in our, our shot waiting area kind of for that reason. but yeah, that, that's, I really like that.

Amber: Do we wanna do a count of three for which brand we use in our home or office or our preferred brand? 

Kara: I


Our Preferred Air Purifier Brand & Show Sponsor: Molekule
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Kara: think probably good for us to at least mention that, um, we do have an air purifier as a sponsor for the podcast, in part, um. We, we kind of discussed this a lot about one, wanting to be transparent about any of those financial relationships, but also really only partnering with companies that

Meagan: We believe and then use.

Kara: Absolutely. 

Amber: Yeah. 

Kara: And so I think we'll probably say, molekule. 

And, part of that is, well, I know we've talked a little bit. Frankly, I love the aesthetic. Yeah. 

Meagan: And again, 

Amber: I do too with this little leather handle. 

Meagan: One of the things we talk about it is, it is lovely and it's unobtrusive and it. 

Kara: And we don't have it plugged in right now, but it is quiet. 

Amber: It's really light too. I'm gonna like put it over here where you can see it. 

Kara: I brought it to an event at the kids' daycare the other day to kind of show, show and tell. And my daughter was able to carry it in for me. 

Amber: This is, is the small one

Kara: It's a small one too. Yes. This is what I have in my office at 

Amber: We have the bigger one in our office. 


Molekule's HEPA & PECO Technology
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Amber: I guess just to talk a little bit about the technology and why it's, it's now my preferred air purifier, even before they were a sponsor is because, HEPA technology has been around for 40 plus years. 

Meagan: So the High-efficiency Particulate Air filter, HEPA, right? 

Amber: Thank you yep. That has been around for a long time. The technology hasn't really changed much, but I think most people see that as like the top form of air, air filtration. Molekule has combined HEPA with PECO, particulate, I don't know the breakdown of those words. But, but what PECO is, is PECO destroys other particles in the air. So it's combining two different technologies to get even more advanced, more medical grade air filtration in your home. 

Kara: The other benefit that I saw too is the app is really easy to use. It's easy to set up. It reminds you, you can actually subscribe so that you get the replacement filters. I think that's one of the other big issues with an air purifier is it's the filter that actually is what makes it effective and does the work. And so if you're not willing or able to replace the filter, then kind of, we were talking in the last episode about immunotherapy, if you aren't gonna commit, don't bother. You know, like, because it really, um, it's just gonna, you know, increase your power bill a tiny bit.

So that's really nice, but it also monitors your air quality. So one thing that I used actually the larger unit that to the old office, to test out before we moved to our current home, we had a gas stove.

And so I plugged it into the kitchen, which was a larger space. It was an appropriate, you know, sized space for that unit. but I was able to see how much that air quality changed and worsened when I used the gas stove to cook dinner. And you could hear it automatically turn on high mode because the particulate was so high. 

Oh my gosh. 

And so that, for me, it was, this was all around the same time that a lot of the information was coming out about the worries about natural gas and things, and if you, if you're able, you know, or had the option to consider electric or induction, and or in a process of building a house and so decided like, okay, I'm just gonna figure out how to use induction because really, you know, I'm seeing this, this data right in, in, in real time, hearing it, kick into like high gear especially as someone with a more sensitive airway.

Meagan: Yeah, I need a new stove. So now that's where my is

Amber: Next episode, allergy living stoves. 

Meagan: Yeah Yeah absolutely. 


The Bottom Line: Is an Air Purifier a Good Investment for You?
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Meagan: but you know, in summation, it is a good idea to consider an air filter if you have, um, seasonal allergies to different pollens, to mold, um, if you have pets. And one big thing I think about the three of us likely is because we're such champions of immunotherapy and working with your environment to make everything comfortable for you while you live with your allergies. We don't tell people to get rid of our pets. that's not, you know, that's never an option.

Kara: old school allergist. Like paternal. 

Meagan: Yes. Like you have to get rid. They did that study at Cleveland Clinic about 10 years ago, uh, that they, um, that showed that people would rather get rid of their allergist than their pet. And I, I totally get that.

And so I think about that a lot. So the point is, is that if you have any of those scenarios sort of happening in your life, considering a high quality air purifier is a really good option to help with environmental control. 

Kara: And it is an investment. I think that that is something to consider. And, you know, anytime we're thinking through what we're recommending, you know, talking with your doc one-on-one to say, "Here's my budget and, what's the most bang for my buck?"

Um, and so again, if you're just dust mite allergic, this is probably not it. depending on your symptoms, your goals, your values, and what, you know, if you're someone who's like, "Ah, I don't care if I have to take an extra Zyrtec", that's gonna cost me five cents. That's fine. That's great as long as you're tolerating it okay.

But if you are someone who's like, gosh, I really wanna cut down on how much medication I'm using, then we do have to think about air purifiers. We do have to think about immunotherapy and some of these other options that are going to allow for that. 

Meagan: So thank you for joining us. If you have any questions or comments, uh, we would love to interact with you. Just list them below and we'd be happy to answer questions. Um, or do another episode on, uh, this area if you want us to go and dig into anything deeper. And we will see you next time on 

Allergy Actually.

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