Head Louse Eradication & Prevention Program

Pediculosis: Head Lice Treatment

Who wouldn’t like to flaunt their beautiful hair dancing and swaying gracefully against the wind? Beautiful and healthy hair requires a lot of care, upkeep and maintenance. Learn more about pediculosis and treatment for  head lice …

Pediculosis is an infestation of lice, parasite insects in the bodies of humans, usually found on scalps. Lice are tiny insects that live on and crawl through the hair. Lice live on the heads of their human hosts and thrive on human blood to survive. They stay close the skin for moisture, food and warmth.

They move freely and quickly which explains their ease of transmission. However, please be aware that head lice themselves are not a health hazard and are definitely not a sign of bad hygiene. Itching of the scalp is the most common symptom which further leads to skin sores and skin infections. It spreads from person to person through close physical contact or by sharing combs, clothes, towels, pillows, clothes, bedding, furniture, hats or linen.

The three lice species that infest humans are Pediculus humanus capitis -  head louse, Phthirus pubis – crab or pubic louse, and Pediculus humanus corpus – body louse. All three insects are obligate human parasites.

Common Symptoms
Pediculosis is more common among females than males and is most frequent in children, especially young and adolescent females. Direct head-to-head contact is the most common mode of transmission. Early diagnosis and treatment is important. A child who often scratches his/her head needs to be examined for lice near the scalp. Some common symptoms to look
for:

1. Tickling feeling of something (lice) moving in the hair.
2. Itching scalp, especially at the hairline and in the nape of the neck.
3. Irritability especially in young children, as they don’t know how to express their discomfort.
4. Sores on the head caused by the constant scratching.
5. Presence of nits (eggs) or lice in the hair close to the scalp.
Treatment for Head Lice

Non-prescription medications are available in pharmacies to treat pediculosis.  Medicated shampoos to treat head infested with lice are available in plenty that are easy to use and effective. However, consult a health care provider before treating a child less than a year.

All family members need to be checked for pediculosis, as failure to treat infected members will cause reinfestation in the household. Some prevention steps to avoid reinfestation are:

• Thoroughly vacuuming the entire house, especially the infected person’s room including their furniture as there is a risk of easy transmission.
• Soaking combs and brushes for an hour in a solution of water and  anti-lice medicated shampoo
• Wash all bedding, blankets, pillow cases and clothes worn by an infected person within the past 72 hours in hot water for at least 20 minutes
• Sealing items that can’t be washed such as hats, coats and scarves in an airtight plastic bags for two weeks

The most effective treatment for head lice typically involves washing your hair with a  head lice shampoo and then patiently and diligently removing the nits with a lice comb. For light infestations, head lice can be treated by manually removing the live lice and nits.

As there are often a lot of nits and lice on a child, they are hard to find and remove instantly. You need to continue to find nits for days after treatment to completely get rid of head lice. It could help if you avoid the following to ensure that the treatment is effective and the infestation does not get aggravated:

• Do not use a hair dryer on your child’s or infected person’s hair after applying the scalp treatments as some of these contain flammable ingredients
• Do not use sprays or pest control to get rid of lice as they can be harmful
• Do not use multiple medications to treat head lice
• Do not use a cream rinse or conditioner before applying lice medication

Do not wash your child/infected person’s hair for about a day or two after using a medicated treatment

Be patient and follow the recommended treatments and preventive measures to get rid of head lice and you are well on your way towards keeping your family lice-free, happy and smiling!

By Janani Rajagopal

For the best treatment for head lice check out the following.

Head Louse Eradication & Prevention Program

The Best Head Lice Remedy

Head Lice & Nit Removal Comb

Head Lice Detector and Eliminator

Head Lice Shampoo Removal 

Vickies Head Lice Home Remedy 

We are fortunate that we now live in a world that for most ailments there is a medicinal cure. Many age-old complaints are being treated, or at least their symptoms can be treated, so they do not bother people anymore.
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But as the medicines get better so does the bacteria get stronger and become more immune to it. Head lice have been around forever and recent advances in medicine brought about a variety of treatments that has been able to get rid of them. Unfortunately, head lice can from time to time adapt to these medicines, so when this happens it is time to turn to alternative treatments for head lice techniques.

No More Chemicals

Alternative treatments for head lice are a surefire way of treating them, and alternative treatments will also help reduce the need for the chemicals found in medicine off of your head. Many of them are found to be harmless, but there is at least one (lindane found in the medicine Kwell) which s known to be toxic, in particular to children and seniors.

If using an alternative treatment for head lice it can be cheaper than purchasing medicine, but first you should know some techniques to get rid of the head lice without the use of medicine.

One of the quickest and easiest methods to naturally remove head lice is to warm up a towel in your dryer for 20-30 minutes. Wrap the warm towel around your head, and the heat should be sufficient to kill both the lice and their eggs, ending the infestation in a matter of minutes.

It does leave a bit of a window open for some nits (lice eggs) to survive if you’re not careful. Therefore, you can consider another option for an alternative treatment for head lice like olive oil. Massage olive oil into the scalp and let it sit there for ten minutes before washing out. The Olive oil smothers the head lice so they can’t breathe. If you do use olive oil, you’ll also need to perform head lice egg removal.

The best method in carrying out head lice egg removal is by using a warm towel, and then proceeding with the use of olive oil to ensure that none of them hatch. When combing through the hair use a nit comb or if you do not have one a very fine toothed comb.

As you can see, there are several easy and cheap methods for alternative treatments for head lice, and they don’t involve rubbing toxic chemicals into your scalp. As always, you’ll need to check for nits every few days for a couple of weeks to make sure that none survived, but you would need to do that as well if you used medicine.

By: GloriaG

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Are you having trouble getting rid of those head lice well visit:www.lastheadlice.com for more information

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