By Barbara Pierce
As kids return to school, we can expect a spike in the number of kids that will come home with head lice.
According to JohnHopkins.org, head lice are most common in children aged 3 to 11. They’re more prevalent in Caucasians and found more frequently found in girls than boys.
We asked Derek Croft, head lice specialist and owner of Lice Doctors of Syracuse, to explain how to combat head lice.
1. Who gets head lice?
“Anybody can get head lice,” said Croft. “There’s a myth that only people with dirty hair get them, but the truth is that lice prefer clean hair.” Head lice favor all socioeconomic groups.
2. How are head lice spread?
According to the CDC, the most common way to get head lice is by head-to-head contact with a person who already has head lice. This contact is common among children in school, day care, sport activities or home. Getting head lice is not related to cleanliness of the child or his environment. Head lice spread quickly in group settings.
Adult lice can live on a head for about 30 days. They will die within two days if they fall off a head and cannot feed; they need a human host to survive.
They don’t live on pets. And “they’re a risk all year,” said Croft. “They don’t die in the winter.”
3. How do I know if my child is affected?
An itchy scalp is the most common symptom of head lice, intense itching. You might see small, red bumps on the scalp, neck and shoulders. You may see tiny white specks (eggs, or nits) on the bottom of each hair. People often feel like something is crawling on their scalp. It sometimes takes a few weeks after the lice arrive for the itching to start.
Lice live on heads, not in houses like fleas or bedbugs. Your house is not infested and there are no bugs or nits all over the house waiting to hatch and infest your family. Lice do not want to leave their food source, which is always a head. They only lay eggs on human hair.
4. What should I do if my child has head lice?
Often, by the time you get a call from a school nurse, your child has had head lice for a while. And the whole family will probably be infected. “If the children have it, the parents will likely have it,” said Croft. “It’s important to treat the whole family or you’ll just keep passing it back and forth.”
Your first line of defense against head lice is an over-the-counter shampoo. The main difference between various shampoos is the active ingredient and which stages of head lice it kills. Most of these head lice treatments don’t kill nits, so a second application will be necessary to kill the nymphs once they hatch.
There are three generations of head lice; all three need to be dead to get rid of head lice. Nits are firmly attached to the base of the hair. Nymphs are becoming an adult. Adult head lice are tan-colored and can be seen moving quickly along the hair or across the scalp.
All three generations need to be dead, to get rid of them for good. Because of this, it can take several treatments to completely remove lice and nits.
“The special shampoo doesn’t kill the nits,” said Croft. “You have to wash and wash many times.”
One of the reasons the special shampoo doesn’t work is that parents don’t follow the directions exactly. You shouldn’t see any crawling head lice after the first treatment if you applied it correctly. If you are still seeing live crawlers, then you may have missed a step or the treatment is not effective against the type of lice your child has.
“OTC shampoo is effective, but it’s not effective with the ‘super-lice’ we’ve begun to see more of,” said Croft. “They’ve developed into superbugs, like another type of bug. The more you use the shampoo, the more they become immune to it.”
“Our team of technicians performs at-home lice treatments,” Croft added. “We come to your home, discreetly, in unmarked cars. Our technicians stay a couple of hours, treat the whole family. This relieves the stress; let professionals take care of the problem. We treat people all over the state.”
5. How can I prevent my child from getting head lice?
Unfortunately, there is no proven head lice deterrent that will prevent your child from getting head lice again. The best you can do is stay alert for suspicious head scratching.
Experts say that doing a combing head check twice a month helps cut down infestations.
The American Academy of Pediatrics says head lice are not a reason for kids to miss school.