Allergen-coated lancets (Phazet) for skin prick testing in children.

With a new allergen-coated lancet (Phazet), skin prick tests can be made directly on the skin without separate use of liquid extract (the Phazet dry method), and reactions are recorded as for the ordinary method with liquid allergen extract (Pharmalgen) (the Pharmalgen wet method). 100 children were tested in parallel with the two methods. As a double control each Phazet was used twice (Phazet 1 and 2) in each child, who was tested with nine standard allergens. Good agreement was found between the results obtained with the two methods and also between Phazet 1 and Phazet 2. No general reactions were shown in relation to the numerous skin prick tests with allergen extract of a strength up to 100,000 BU/ml. 66% of the children preferred the Phazet while 22% had no preference.