Allergy Shots & Allergy Immunotherapy: A Full Guide
- Allergy shots (SCIT) are a well-established form of allergy immunotherapy given over three to five years.
- Treatment introduces small, increasing amounts of allergen so your immune system builds long-term tolerance.
- Most people start with weekly or biweekly visits, then taper to a monthly maintenance schedule.
- ILIT is a newer, faster allergy treatment option that can compress immunotherapy into months instead of years.
- You don't have to choose ILIT from the start. Ask your allergist whether transitioning mid-course is an option for you.
Allergy immunotherapy is the only category of allergy treatment that changes how your immune system responds to an allergen over time, rather than just controlling symptoms as they come up. Allergy shots, also called subcutaneous immunotherapy or SCIT, are the original and most established form of it, used for decades.
How Allergy Shots Work
Each shot contains a small, carefully measured amount of the allergen you react to, injected just under the skin. The dose increases over repeated visits, training your immune system to tolerate the allergen instead of overreacting to it. That's different from antihistamines or nasal sprays, which only manage symptoms after they start.
What to Expect
Allergy shots happen in two phases. The buildup phase is weekly or biweekly visits as the dose increases, typically taking three to six months. Once you reach an effective maintenance dose, visits taper to monthly, continuing for a total of three to five years. Every visit ends with a short waiting period so your allergist can monitor for a reaction.
That multi-year timeline is also the most common reason people hesitate to start, or don't finish once they do. The visits themselves take time. Copays, gas, and parking add up too, and some people are still taking antihistamines in the meantime.
A Faster Option: Intralymphatic Immunotherapy (ILIT)
Intralymphatic immunotherapy (ILIT) is a newer approach built on the same basic idea: introducing allergen so your immune system builds tolerance. The delivery is different. Instead of repeated under-skin injections over years, ILIT delivers allergen extract directly into a lymph node, guided by ultrasound, typically over a handful of visits across a few months.
ILIT isn't the right fit for every allergy profile. It's built around a defined set of common allergens, and it's currently generally self-pay rather than insurance-covered like SCIT. Still, it's worth knowing about, whether you're starting allergy treatment for the first time or you're already partway through allergy shots and wondering if there's a faster path from here. Many providers offer both SCIT and ILIT, so ask what switching mid-course would actually look like for your specific allergens and how far into treatment you already are.
Find an ILIT provider near you to talk through your options.
Frequently Asked Questions
Many patients notice some improvement during the three-to-six-month buildup phase itself, before reaching full maintenance dosing.
You receive an injection containing your specific allergen(s) at a measured dose, then wait in the office for a short period afterward, typically a half hour, so your allergist can monitor for any reaction.
Many providers offer both SCIT and ILIT, so it's possible. What matters is where you are in treatment and whether ILIT's allergen list matches what you're already being treated for. A provider offering both can walk through what switching would actually involve for your specific plan.
SCIT has decades of track record, so it's the option insurers cover most often. ILIT is newer and typically self-pay today. Coverage rules shift, so check your specific plan rather than assuming either way.
Yes. Like allergy shots, ILIT works by introducing allergen so your immune system builds tolerance over time. The difference is delivery method and timeline, not the underlying approach.
