When you find that your child has gotten head lice, it’s easy to become upset. Panic and hasty actions can result from the notion that your child may have small parasites in their hair. You may think to yourself, “Where is lice treatment near me?” but it is recommended to learn more before taking any measures.
First, it’s a good thing head lice cannot transmit any diseases. All they do is cause some itching, which, while quite annoying, is not inherently dangerous. You can look around for the lice using a comb.
Parents can use these suggestions to tackle head lice properly. Let’s begin with some basic information on head lice:
- All varieties of hair, including curly, straight, colored, and natural, support the existence of head lice.
- Children ages 3-11 are frequently affected by head lice.
- Compared to boys, girls are more likely to have them.
- The pests are far more common, statistically, in children of Caucasian descent.
Understand How Lice Are Transmitted
Recognize the possible causes of your child’s head lice infestation before you begin therapy. In addition to not jumping, head lice don’t exist on animals and are unrelated to personal hygiene. Head-to-head contact is the most typical method of head lice transmission.
Your child had to have made contact with someone with lice in their hair. This could take place during playtime during or after school hours, during sports, or even at sleepovers.
Sharing personal objects that come into contact with the scalp, such as hair brushes, hats, and other hair accessories, is a possible but less likely way to get head lice. Head lice cannot live away from a head for more than a day because they require a blood meal every 12 to 24 hours.
Tackling The Problem
When your child returns home with head lice, you should take action to stop the infestation from spreading to other members of your family. You can take the following steps to begin tackling the problem.
- Avoid making physical contact with your child. Remember, head lice need to make the jump to you; if you don’t touch your child, it cannot affect you.
- If you receive a notification from the school about your child having lice, they’ve probably had it for a while. Start preparations for treating your family.
- Check if anyone else in the house has contracted the lice. If so, you would need to make no physical contact with them either.
It is important to understand that head lice may be contained by washing hats, pillowcases, and other objects that come into contact with the scalp in hot water. However, since head lice rarely spread from non-living objects, you don’t need to sanitize your entire home.
How Long Do Head Lice Live?
You must understand your foe to treat head lice effectively. Many manifestations of head lice may be present:
The eggs of head lice, or “nits,” are securely fused to the scalp. Even though they resemble dandruff, nits are seen as oval rather than flat, as can be seen when you look at them under a microscope.
A nymph is born from the egg; it transforms through three phases before finally turning into an adult and has a grayish-white hue. Tan-colored adult lice can be observed scurrying across the scalp.
All generations must be dead or nonviable to permanently eradicate head lice.
Maybe It’s Time To Go Bald?
To survive, head lice require a host. Head lice also go when the hair does. Although cutting a child’s hair might seem like a drastic measure, some parents may find it to be the best option.
If your child happens to have short hair, it can make a lot of sense to eradicate the habitat of head lice to get rid of the problem. Hair can grow back and it can save them from a lot of the problems that are associated with lice such as extreme itching.
Many children, especially young boys may have hair that quickly grows. It would take a week or two for their hair to return. It’ll save them from the treatment process which they may not enjoy. It can be seen as the lesser of two evils when it comes to solving the head lice problem.
Treatments For Lice
Over-the-counter treatment for head lice, which commonly comes in shampoo form, is your first line of defense against head lice. The primary distinction between different product types is the ingredient’s mode of action and the stages of lice in the scalp it kills. You can also consult with lice treatment specialists that cover your location whether it is Tampa and St. Petersburg, or Houston.
A secondary application of the product may be required to destroy the nymphs when they hatch because the majority of over-the-counter head lice treatments don’t kill nits.
Pyrethrins are the active component in certain over-the-counter remedies for head lice. Chrysanthemums, often known as mums or chrysanths, and other flowers in the Compositae (Asteraceae) family naturally contain pyrethrins. The pyrethrin-based lice treatment may cause an allergic reaction in your child if they are sensitive to the flowers.
Time To Apply The Treatment
Since they are not administered according to the instructions, over-the-counter medications for head lice frequently fail to eliminate the problem. Parents frequently disregard the instructions or divide a dose into many applications.
If you used the first treatment as directed, you shouldn’t see any head lice crawling around. If the live crawlers are still present, either a step has been skipped, or treatment is ineffective for the particular lice they have contracted.
Conclusion
When it comes to head lice, you need to take the problem seriously. While they aren’t inherently dangerous, they are a nuisance to both you and the community. The treatment process must be tackled with the utmost urgency and effectively.
Well, if you’re in Indianapolis, or Atlanta, Lice doctors have you covered. This one is a solid service that can help solve your headlice-related needs.