York Test Laboratories

Hello, I hope you're all well. I've just come back from travelling around Thailand- I wish I was there now!

My mum showed me an article a few days ago about a woman who suffered with acne for years and after taking a food intolerance test as a last resort she found out that the cause of it was an allergy to dairy she never knew about! I decided to do more research and found out that it is actually more common than I assumed.

With this in mind, my mum then showed me a website http://www.yorktest.com/ where you can order a home test kit to test yourself for any potential intolerances. 

When ordering it you choose why you want it so I chose the "skin conditions" option.

The basic test costs £19.99 (£9.99 until the 6/9/13 as there is an offer on) and mine came 2 days after ordering it.

It comes in a little box like this: 

and inside is the equipment you need to do a finger prick test (needle/swab/antiseptic wipe/plasterer etc) and once you've done that you put the box and the sharps back in the box, into the free post envelope provided, and pop it in the post back to the lab. Simple.

Once they receive the sample they send you an email like so:

If your test is negative then there is no further testing, however if the test is positive then you have the option of doing a thorough food/drink tolerance test for around £250 which tells you what exactly you are allergic to.

The only reason you can't do this test is it you are pregnant/breast feeding/taking steroids/suffering from HIV or hepatitis. 

It's expensive (as is everything we do for clear skin, right) but if there is an underlying cause its always good to know. 

I'll let you know when my results come back.

- Natalie