There are two reasons for a recurrent lice infestation: The lice treatment you used didn't work. You or someone in your family came in contact with lice again.
Treatments for head lice: anti-lice products and wet-combing. There are two ways to treat head lice at home – anti-lice hair products and wet-combing. You can get anti-lice products from your pharmacy without a prescription. Lotions, liquids and creams are more effective than shampoos.
Head lice keep recurring when eggs are missed and left in the hair. Those missed eggs then hatch and you find head lice again. Removing all the eggs is key to stopping head lie recurring. The eggs are tiny and glued firmly onto the hair.
Because preschool- and elementary-age children are in constant contact with each other, they are more likely to catch head lice than adults. Lice can easily spread from child to child by the sharing of clothes or other belongings such as hats and brushes.
Parents typically blame other kids at school when their kids get lice, but some lice experts think that kids are more likely to get lice from family members at home or these other situations where head-to-head contact is likely: Sleepovers and slumber parties. Sports activities.
Because the active ingredients have remained the same all these years, new generations of head lice have become immune to them. Once lice become immune, the product no longer works. Scientists call this resistance.
Teach your kids to hang up their coats and hats on an individual hook, or some other separate area when they get to school, instead of just throwing them in a pile with other classmates' clothing. Regularly clean things that your child's head has direct contact with that they share with other children.
The peak season for lice infestation is August through October and again in January. Head lice are tiny parasitic insects that feed on human blood. Lice come in three forms: nits (eggs), nymphs (baby lice), and adults. Nits are white or yellowish-brown and about the size of a poppy seed.
Head lice can affect anyone but occur most often among children between the ages of 3 to 11 years old, along with their families. Children are more at risk, as they make head-to-head contact with other children when playing together and may share items that have contact with their hair.
Lice can be tricky to get rid of because nits can remain unhatched on your head or you might pick up lice that are still on bedding or other items. Here's what to do if you've had lice — or someone in your family has: Wash bed linens and clothing that anyone with lice has used recently.
If you're infested with body lice for a long time, you may experience skin changes such as thickening and discoloration — particularly around your waist, groin or upper thighs. Spread of disease. Body lice can carry and spread some bacterial diseases, such as typhus, relapsing fever or trench fever.
Lice are attracted to the blood they get through your scalp – short, long, clean or dirty.
Many lice medicines recommend a second treatment in 9 to 10 days. This will kill any new nymphs that have hatched since the first treatment. Do not treat a person more than 2 times with the same medicine without talking to your doctor. Do not use conditioner for 10 days after any treatment.
In the past, kids with head lice were kept home from school. But now doctors don't recommend these "no-nit" policies. In most cases, a child who has lice should stay at school until the end of the day, go home and get treatment, and return to school the next day.
As head lice can live on pillows, you'll need to clean them. Adult lice can only survive for two days without a host. However, they can still lay eggs. If the infected person has had a lice treatment and then picks up stray lice from their pillow, the lice infestation cycle can start all over again.
Preventing Lice
Your child might have a positive blood type hence prone to lice infestations. However, the rest of the family members are likely to be blood type negative, and because lice don't like switching rhesus factors, they will not be affected as much.
Hairspray makes it harder for the louse to grab hold. The smell of hairspray and the use of solvents (sad but true) in them can also deter creepy crawlies from finding their way in. Not to mention that if you're tying longer hair back, you've got a double whammy.
Head-to-head contact with an already infested person is the most common way to get head lice. Head-to-head contact is common during play at school, at home, and elsewhere (sports activities, playground, slumber parties, camp). Although uncommon, head lice can be spread by sharing clothing or belongings.
What repels head lice? Coconut, tea tree oil, lavender, eucalyptus, rosemary, lemon grass, and peppermint are scents popularly believed to repel lice. Using any coconut scented shampoo and conditioner is an easy way to increase your defense. At 1% concentration, tea tree oil killed 100% of head lice after 30 minutes.
Typically, 10–15 head lice are found. The number of lice often depends on personal hygiene, for example, how often the person bathes, shampoos, or changes and washes his/her clothing.
You Have to Treat Them
Head lice will not go away on their own. If you think your child has an infestation, there are several steps you should take right away. Call your doctor to confirm the diagnosis. Notify your child's day care or school so other students can be checked.
Dehydration: Applying hot air with a special machine operated by a professional can cause dehydration, possibly killing the eggs and lice. Household cleaning: Lice usually can't live more than a day without feeding off a human scalp, and the eggs can't survive if they aren't incubated at the temperature in the scalp.
Is it necessary to remove all the nits? No. The two treatments 9 days apart are designed to eliminate all live lice, and any lice that may hatch from eggs that were laid after the first treatment. Many nits are more than ¼ inch from the scalp.
Just like with mattresses, lice can only live on any bedding—whether it's sheets, pillows, or comforters—for 1-2 days. Without a human scalp as a source for food (blood) for longer than 1-2 days, lice cannot survive.