Lice Clinics of Texas can help ease your pain and stress from head lice. We understand that when you discover one, two or three people in your home have head lice, it almost always leads to anxiety and feelings of confusion! Where should I go for help? Should I treat it myself at home? What treatments will actually work? How did this happen?
Here are a few tidbits of information that can help you along your head lice journey.
1. Lice Can Infect Anyone
Head lice are not more often found in dirty or clean hair. In fact, studies done show that head lice are equal opportunity human parasites. Unless of course, you have no hair. Bald heads have no risk of getting head lice. There is no correlation between hygiene and contracting head lice. Except, hygiene can play a large role in how quickly you are able to be rid of head lice.
Head lice affect all races and are genetically equipped to hang onto human hair strands with a tight grip that makes them very difficult to remove. However, we more commonly see girls with head lice than boys, which is probably just because they usually have longer, flowing hair that is more easily infested than short hair from boys.
2. Your Child Has Probably Had Lice For a While
Head lice symptoms will usually take at least three to four weeks to manifest. This is because once head lice infect a head, they need 7-9 days for their first eggs to start hatching. The average head lice infection is not discovered until there are at least 15-20 adult lice on the scalp. The first sign is itching. Head lice leave traces of saliva each time they take a bite and suck blood from the scalp. This saliva is actually what people show allergic reactions to, causing itchiness on the scalp. Most often head lice are found on the crown on the head, behind the ears, and the back of the neck. Check these places of signs of red bumps, or bite marks that could indicate head lice.
3. Head Checks Are The Best Way To Detect Lice
The sooner you find lice, the sooner you can get rid of them, preventing them from spreading to anyone else. Nobody wants to be the reason for a lice outbreak at school. The only way to catch lice early on is to perform head lice checks at home and to do it often. Get a nitpicking comb to sift through hair, and be sure to check the crown of the head, behind the ears and the nape of the neck. This is where head lice tend to hang out. Do it weekly if they are young and daily if there’s an outbreak at school. One of the most common mistakes we see is that parents don’t check the adults in a home for head lice. We are seeing much more head lice in teens and adults as a result. Make sure all family members are screened before you declare your home head lice free.
4. We Offer The Best Lice Treatment Around
If you need lice treatment, look no further than our clinic. We are here to answer any additional questions you may have about head lice and the proper way to treat them. Please don’t hesitate to call our office today!