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Head-to-head contact with an already infested person is the most common way to get head lice. Head-to-head contact is common during play at school, at home, and elsewhere (sports activities, playground, slumber parties, camp). "The underlying message, which is supported by evidence, is that head lice occur in hair clean or dirty," Speare says.
Head lice
Items that cannot be laundered may be dry-cleaned or sealed in a plastic bag for two weeks. Items such as hats, grooming aids, and towels that come in contact with the hair of an infested person should not be shared. Vacuuming furniture and floors can remove an infested person’s hairs that might have viable nits attached.
Consider these ways to eliminate head lice:
It’s important to remove nits (lice eggs) from your hair so that they don’t hatch into nymphs and produce a new generation of lice within less than 2 weeks. Anyone can get lice if they come into close contact with someone who has them. However, some research suggests that certain groups may be more prone to head lice than others. If you’re still finding nits but no lice after you’ve undergone treatment, continue combing your hair with a nit comb every 2 to 3 days, according to the CDC. Some of these oils are readily found on grocery store shelves, like coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil, and grapeseed oil. Others like argan oil, baobab oil, tea tree oil, rosemary oil, and sweet almond oil may be found in health food shops or drugstores.
Nit-picking Lice Champs opens in Woodbury Business republicaneagle.com - Republican Eagle
Nit-picking Lice Champs opens in Woodbury Business republicaneagle.com.
Posted: Sat, 03 Sep 2016 07:00:00 GMT [source]
The itchy truth: What to know about head lice
In a 2016 study on this topic, scientists found that 98 percent of the lice they evaluated—collected from 138 sites in 48 states—had a gene mutation indicating possible pesticide resistance. The researchers say that while the mutation doesn't guarantee that an OTC lice product with permethrin or pyrethrins will fail, it does reduce the chances treatment will succeed. Even the sharing of helmets, clothes, pillows, and hairbrushes probably rarely leads to lice transmission, according to the CDC. The risk is greater, however, when these types of items are used by more than one child in quick succession, Gouge says. And if someone in your household does have lice, it's a good idea to launder their bedding and clothes and to clean hair-care items as a precaution, according to the AAP. "Yet they have bubbled up forcibly to the top of what everyone fears."
The three stages in the head lice life cycle are:
From avocado oil to argan oil, natural oils extracted from nuts, seeds, and fruits can help strengthen your hair and enhance its texture. People turn to them, or products that contain them, for a variety of reasons, such as hair dryness, dullness, or damage. Because oils supply moisture to your scalp, they may also help eliminate dandruff. People will often find them behind the ears and on the back of the neck. Some treatments need to be repeated after a week to kill any newly hatched lice.
Prescription or over-the-counter medications and shampoos
It’s never fun to find nits in your hair (or your child’s hair), but it can be especially confusing when you see the nits without finding the louse. Lice are also tenacious and can’t be killed with a hot shower or strong shampoo. If you find evidence of lice treat all members of the household.
If you have no symptoms, no active lice, and the nits are all farther than 1 cm from the scalp, they’re probably from a previous infestation and may not need treatment. You can remove nits with wet combing and continue to watch closely for any new signs of infestation. The only way to be sure someone has head lice is by finding live lice. You can do this by combing their hair with a special fine-toothed comb (detection comb).
This physically blocks the holes through which lice breathe, suffocating them – rather than poisoning them, as older insecticides such as permethrin or malathion did. Because dimeticone acts as a physical barrier, lice are unlikely to develop resistance to it, but it still only works around 80-90% of the time. The key is to thoroughly soak the hair with product, and then re-treat a week later to catch any newly hatched lice. Natural remedies for head lice involve applying oil, such as olive oil or mayonnaise, or petroleum jelly, to the hair to suffocate the lice. Most people who choose this method saturate the hair and scalp and cover it with a shower cap overnight. Then, they shampoo and comb out the lice and nits in the morning.
Dandruff lies on the scalp and comes away easily, whereas nits stick to the hair. The term nits can also refer to the empty egg casings that remain in the hair once the nymph has hatched. These are easier to see, especially on darker hair, as they are lighter, usually white or yellow. You can help stop them spreading by wet combing regularly, using a detection comb, to catch them early.
Unfortunately head lice are becoming increasingly resistant to the most common synthetic chemicals used to kill them. To be sure you need to treat, you can look for live adults scurrying around on the hair close to the scalp, but these can be notoriously difficult to spot. White or clear-colored nits are usually eggs that have hatched. The AAP generally recommends treatment when nits are within 1 cm of the scalp. However, the study in Jordan suggests that people with longer hair may get lice more frequently.
If these are not effective, a doctor can recommend a prescription medicine instead. A nymph hatches from the egg and goes through several stages of growth before turning into an adult head louse. Nymphs look similar to adult head lice but are smaller, roughly the same size as a pinhead. If wet combing has not worked or is not suitable, you could try a medicated lotion or spray. These kill head lice in all types of hair, and you can buy them from pharmacies, supermarkets or online.
Head lice should not be considered as a medical or public health hazard. Head lice can be an annoyance because their presence may cause itching and loss of sleep. Sometimes the itching can lead to excessive scratching that can sometimes increase the chance of a secondary skin infection. Dogs, cats, and other pets do not play a role in the spread of head lice. For more information, read Professor Speare's fact sheet on how to treat head lice. Speare says new research has found one of the biggest problems with head lice is that people either don't know how to treat them properly or aren't satisfied with the treatment options available.
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