Lice

If your child comes home with head lice, don’t panic. Millions of school children contract head lice each year. Children play in close contact with each other. A simple exchange of hats, clothing, brushes, combs and other personal articles can result in transmission of head lice from one child to another. Lice can easily and effectively be treated. You should ask your pharmacist for an effective head lice shampoo or ask your doctor for advice.

Lice is frustrating to the child and to the parent. We want to work with you to get your child lice free and to miss the least amount of school possible. Please read through these helpful tips to treat your child(ren). The school nurse must inspect your child upon return to school to ensure treatment has been effective.

FACTS AND TIPS TO CONSIDER WHEN TREATING YOUR CHILD FOR LICE

  • Check all members of the family for lice and their eggs. Lice are small grayish-tan wingless insects.

  • Nits are lice eggs laid the base of the hair shaft nearest the scalp. Nits are firmly

    attached to the hair shafts and are much easier to see than live lice. Treatments kill

    head lice, but they do not remove the nits.

  • Over the counter treatments kill live lice but do not kill the nits(eggs) so it’s very important to remove all nits(eggs) with the comb provided in the treatment box

  • Nits(eggs) hatch within 6-8 days so if you are having a hard time removing all of the nits(eggs) please re-treat within 6-8 days after the first time you treat your child.

  • Apply the lice treatment to all family members infested with lice. Carefully follow the

    instructions on the package.

  • Home remedies such as mayonnaise and Vaseline are not effective forms of

    treatment.

  • Nit combs, often provided with lice treatments should be used to comb nits and lice from the hair shaft.

  • After each treatment, check the hair and comb with a nit comb to remove nits

    and lice (doing this daily may decrease the chance of self re-infestation).

  • Continue to check for 2 – 3 weeks to be sure all lice and nits are gone.

  • Retreatment is meant to kill any surviving hatched lice before they produce new eggs.

  • Read the shampoo package about retreatment and follow the directions.

    Follow these steps to help

    avoid re-infestation by lice that have recently fallen off the hair or crawled onto

    clothing or furniture.

  • 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.

  • Machine wash and dry clothing, bed linens, and other items that the infested person

    wore or used during the 2 days before treatment using the hot water laundry cycle

    and the high heat drying cycle. Clothing and items that are not washable can be dry-

    cleaned OR sealed in a plastic bag and stored for 2 weeks.

  • Soak combs and brushes in hot water for 5 – 10 minutes.

  • Vacuum the floor and furniture, particularly where the infested person sat or laid.

  • However, the risk of getting infected by a louse that has fallen onto a rug or carpet

    or furniture is very small.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT HOW TO IDENTIFY AND TREAT HEAD LICE, PLEASE REFER TO THE FOLLOWING LINKS:

http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/index.html

http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/schools.html

http://www.dshs.state.tx.ux/schoolhealth/lice.shtm