The rising global burden of allergic diseases, particularly in the pediatric population, is of grave concern. Ocular allergy is one of the most common ocular pathologies met in clinical practice. Many children and adolescents suffer from AEDs, which affect their quality of life. The available treatments and surgical modalities have their limitations and side effects. Therefore, the development of novel and alternate strategies is the need of the hour and requires a timely review of currently available knowledge.
The current review covers the incidence and prevalence of AEDs, factors influencing the occurrence and severity of AED (age, sex, socioeconomic status, etc.), underlying mechanisms, the role of allergy testing and immunotherapy in children, development of diagnostic markers, and novel therapies including cells and molecules.
The study concluded that understanding the demographics, clinical patterns, and risk factors of AED can help formulate appropriate preventive and therapeutic strategies for managing this common cause of ocular morbidity. The future therapeutics for AED seem to rely primarily on cells (mesenchymal stem cells, Tregs, mast cells), cell products, molecules with immunosuppressive potential, and immunotherapy.
