Guidelines for Treating Head Lice



Montgomery County Health Department

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Guidelines for Treating Head Lice

Once head lice are found, the problem should be taken care of promptly in order to prevent it from spreading to others. Having head lice is very common, however, there hasn’t been one specific reason identified for contracting head lice.

WHO IS AT RISK FOR GETTING HEAD LICE?

➢ Head to head contact with a person who has head lice is the most common way to get head lice which occurs during play (sports, activities, hugging, playground, slumber parties, camp)

➢ Head lice MAY be acquired from contact with clothing (hats, scarves, coats) or other personal items (brushes, towels) that belong to an infested person

➢ Girls get head lice more often that boys, women more often that men. Usually because there is more physical contact between girls than boys

➢ African Americans rarely get head lice

➢ Personal hygiene or cleanliness in the home has nothing to do with getting head lice

WHAT YOU SHOULD BE LOOKING FOR?

There are three (3) forms of lice: EGG (NIT), NYMPH, and ADULT LOUSE.

1. NITS are head lice eggs. They are very small about the size of a knot in a thread, hard to see, and often are mistaken for dandruff.

[pic] (Dandruff falls off the hair shaft; the eggs are glued to the hair shaft.)

➢ Nits are laid by the adult female at the base of the hair shaft nearest the scalp. They are oval and usually yellow to white.

➢ Nits take about a week to hatch, so if you miss pulling the nit from the hair shaft, you will have new lice hatching in about a week.

2. NYMPHS are the baby lice.

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It is just smaller than the adult louse. Nymphs can become mature adults in about seven (7) days. Nymphs also need blood to live.

3. ADULT LICE are about the size of a sesame seed, has six legs, and is tan to grayish-white. Females lay eggs and are larger that the males.

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Adults can live up to 30 days on a person’s head. The LOUSE has to feed on blood to survive. If the LOUSE doesn’t get a blood feeding for TWO (2) days it will die!

WHERE ARE LICE MOST COMMONLY FOUND?

Lice are most commonly found on the scalp, behind the ears and near the neckline at the back of the neck. Head lice hold onto the hair with hook-like claws found at the end of each of their six legs. Head lice are rarely found on the body, eyelashes, or eyebrows.

TREATMENT

Treating head lice is a tedious, tiresome process! It will take you at least thirty (30) days to completely rid your child/family of head lice. Here’s the reason: if you miss one nit in your “nit picking”, it will probably hatch within seven days with new lice! It will take seven days for this louse to mature and begin laying eggs for the next generation of lice. Within seven more days, if you don’t get rid of the nits, they will begin to mature and lay more nits!

This is the vicious cycle that occurs when we don’t work on “nit picking” on a daily basis for at least one month! The problem occurs when people quit after the first week and think that they don’t have to check heads for nits or live lice any longer!

STEPS IN TREATING HEADLICE: A 28 Day Process!

Day1

Check head for nits and live lice.

➢ If you have live lice and nits you will need to treat the hair within ¼ inch of the scalp with a pediculocide! (i.e. RID, NIX, LICE CURE, or pharmacy brand, CVS) Follow insert instructions.

➢ Nits found on the hair shaft further that ¼ inch from the scalp have already hatched. Treatment (RID, NIX, ets.) is not recommended for people who only have nits further than ¼ inch away from the scalp.

➢ DO NOT shampoo hair again for 1-2 days (interferes with the medication).

➢ Use a Lice Meister nit comb or other type metal comb with steel metal teeth that are intended to comb through the hair tightly to remove as many nits as possible in a combing.

➢ You may shampoo and condition hair two days later. The conditioner will make it easier to pull lice nits (eggs) from the hair shaft.

Day 2

Check head again for any remaining nits or live lice.

➢ Shampoo and condition hair, nit pick again.

Day 3, 4, 5, 6

Check head again for any remaining nits or live lice.

➢ Nit pick every evening. Looking for nits and picking nits is tedious work, but it must be done.

➢ Remember that if you miss picking a nit, it will hatch in about 7 days! If you miss the nit, the nymph (baby louse) will mature in 7 more days and begin to lay more eggs!

Day 7

Check head again for remaining nits and new live lice.

➢ If you find more nits, you can use a vegetable oil treatment on the hair.

➢ If you find live lice, you may need to treat with a pediculocide, depending on how many live lice you find. Check with you physician.

Vegetable Oil Hair Treatment

You may use regular vegetable oil. Use the oil to coat approximately up to 1 ½ inches onto the hair shaft from the scalp. Cover the head with a shower cap, or tight towel for about 2 hours. Next, shampoo and condition hair. You may need to shampoo a few times to get the oil out, but it will be worth it! Again, begin nit picking, going through each section of hair one at a time (the less hair in a section the better).

Day 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Check head, looking for any remaining nits or live lice, and continue to nit pick.

Day 14

Two weeks have passed and if you have nits you may consider another vegetable oil treatment, and follow the previously stated treatment guide. If you are nit and lice free, congratulations! However, if you missed just one, you may find a nit (egg) or louse in the days to come. Continue to do head checks just to make sure that you haven’t missed an opportunity to extract the nit or louse.

Day 21

Three weeks have passed and you may still find a nit (egg) or louse. You may have to do another vegetable oil treatment if you do find a nit or louse.

Day 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27

Check head, looking for any remaining nits or live lice, and continue to nit pick.

Day 28

Check head closely. At this time you should not see anymore nits or lice because you have removed all the nits which prevented them from hatching into more lice that could lay more eggs.

TREATING the HOUSEHOLD

Head lice do not survive long if they fall off a person and cannot feed. You don’t need to spend a lot of time or money on housecleaning activities. Follow these steps to help avoid re-infestation by lice that have recently fallen off the hair or crawled onto clothing or furniture.

1. To kill lice and nits, machine wash all washable clothing and bed linens that the infested person wore or used during the 2 days before treatment. Use the HOT water (130 degrees) cycle. Dry laundry using the high heat for at least 20 minutes.

2. Dry clean clothing that is not washable or discard the items (coats, scarves, hats, etc.)

OR

Store all clothing, stuffed animals, comforters, etc., that cannot be washed or dry cleaned into a plastic bag and seal shut for two (2) weeks. If there are live lice, they will die because they have not had blood feeding.

3. Soak combs and brushes for one hour in rubbing alcohol, Lysol, or wash with soap and hot (130 degree) water.

4. Vacuum the floor (especially carpet), upholstered furniture, upholstered car interiors, and mattresses where the infested person sits or lays. The risk of getting re-infested from a louse that has fallen onto the carpet or sofa is very small, but can happen.

5. After vacuuming, dispose of sweeper bag and/or empty sweeper bag OUTSIDE. An intense vacuuming will assist in ridding your home/car of fallen live lice.

6. Don’t use fumigant sprays, they can be costly and are toxic if inhaled or absorbed through the skin.

REMEMBER!

The KEY to ridding yourself and/or your child/family from lice is

PERSISTENCE

AND an understanding of the 7 day cycle of lice. One female louse can lay up to 10 nits (eggs) per day! One nit left behind can hatch, mature, and lay about 10 eggs that will hatch in about 7 more days!

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