School has started which means kids are coming in contact with more germs and parasites. Since September is Head Lice Prevention Month we will focus on preventing head lice. We will also cover preventing re-infestation once one already has lice. Having three kids, I have dealt with my fair share of head lice. After one re-infestation I made up my mind to never allow another. I quickly learned how to prevent re-infestation, and I am happy to say it has never occurred again. One thing lice are good for is producing patience. If you didn’t have patience before treating lice, you are sure to have more by the time you are finished.
What Is Head Lice?
Head lice are small, grayish-brown parasitic insects that feed on human blood. Lice is the plural for louse. Pediculosis is the medical term for an infestation with lice. Pedicul is the root word meaning louse while osis is the suffix meaning condition. When a large number of lice live on a person and reproduce it is considered an infestation. Eggs hatch after seven to eight days which is why it is important to remove them promptly.
How Can Lice Be Prevented?
Some believe that lice can jump or fly but this is untrue. They are wingless parasites that do not have the ability to jump or fly. Lice spread by close contact with someone else who has it or by sharing hairbrushes, clothing, and hats.
Tips to prevent getting head lice:
ñ Do not wear other peoples’ hats or try them on at stores. ñ Do not share hairbrushes with others. ñ Don’t use friends’ pillows or blankets. ñ Avoid touching heads with others, especially if you have reason to suspect they may have lice. ñ If you know someone has lice, keep your distance until you know they are lice free. It can take up to two weeks to completely rid oneself of lice and their eggs.
I Have Lice. How Do I Treat It While Preventing Re-infestation?
By the time your child tells you their head itches and you find that they have lice, it is likely they have had it for months. Itching is caused by bites from the parasites and begins several months after first getting lice. Treating lice is quite simple when you know what to do, yet it is very time consuming. Thoroughly treating lice the first time is the best way to prevent re-infestation. If you take shortcuts or do not follow all the necessary steps, you risk re-infestation. This only increases your work in the long run.
Here is what to do, step by step:
1. Go to the store and pick up a lice treatment shampoo or conditioner that comes with a fine tooth comb. Nix was recommended to me by my pharmacy and I have had great success with that brand. You will also want to purchase medicated bedding spray. 2. Before I go further into detail I want to make it very clear that it is imperative that you follow the directions on the box. Leave treatment on hair only for the time directed and do not repeat before one week. I discourage prescription strength lice treatment. In 1993, a young boy died due to pesticide expose after struggling with leukemia. His pesticide exposure was due to having lice and using an FDA approved pesticide shampoo. At that time, the directions said to repeat treatment the following day. This is why I stress the importance of waiting a full week before repeating treatment. If you are pregnant get a doctors advice before treating yourself with a pesticide shampoo. 3. Use the medicated lice shampoo or conditioner according to the directions. This will kill most, if not all of the lice. Regardless of what the box says, the treatment does not and will not kill lice eggs. 4. Brush hair with a comb that has been cleaned or boiled for at least 5 minutes. Starting at the scalp, comb the hair with a fine tooth comb to remove the dead lice. If you see any live lice, grab them and kill them. They will be weakened by the treatment. 5. Next, you will need to go through small strands of hair one at a time. This is best done when hair is damp or completely dry. Lice eggs glue themselves onto hair which makes it difficult to get them off. I don’t use the small tooth combs that come with the kits as I find them ineffective. Instead, I pull out the eggs with my fingernails one at a time. If there are numerous eggs I cut them out. It is important to throw lice eggs in the toilet or put them into a trash bag. When looking for lice eggs, look close to the scalp. They will usually be found within an inch of the scalp. When eggs appear grayish-brown, you can be sure the egg contains a baby lice. When lice hatch they leave behind an empty white egg. Remove these too, just to be on the safe side. 6. Repeat step 5 every day for several days, making sure you did not miss any eggs. If eggs are missed and allowed to hatch the life cycle of the louse repeats. 7. If you find that the first treatment didn’t kill all of the lice there is another option. I have done this before and while some say it doesn’t work, it worked for me. I saturated my daughters hair in mayonnaise and covered it tightly with a shower cap. The goal is to suffocate the lice. You must leave the mayonnaise and cap on for eight hours. Some recommend sleeping in mayonnaise, olive oil, or Vaseline over night. I do not recommend sleeping in mayonnaise because if it gets into your mouth it could cause food poisoning. I have tried the mayonnaise yet cannot vow for the olive oil or Vaseline as I have not tried those myself. 8. Stuffed animals need to be put in airtight trash bags and placed in the garage for one month. As an extra precaution, you can put stuffed animals in the dryer upon removing them from the bags. 9. All bedding must be washed in hot water, followed by drying. 10. Pillows should be put in the dryer until they are very hot. 11. Clothing must be washed and dried. 12. Mattresses, cars, and furniture should be sprayed with the bedding spray. When a lice infestation is bad, I recommend vacuuming the car. 13. All carpets need to be vacuumed. It is also recommended that you use a vacuum tool to get inside couches. 14. Hairbrushes and hair ties should be boiled for five minutes or replaced. 15. Check everyone in the house to see if they too have lice. Both adults and children can get lice.
Occasionally, eggs are found without any live bugs. When I found eggs in my daughters hair I assumed she would have live bugs which was not the case. I did not do anything except pull out each egg, one by one. Thankfully, we caught the eggs before they hatched. Where the bugs went I do not know. I am just happy they were not in her hair.
Take a deep breath and relax. Lice can cause stress and understandably so. Just remember they do not cause disease, just inconvenience.
Sources:
Personal Experience
HeadLice.org
Medicine Net
WebMD
Net Doctor
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