Three Steps in Treating Head Lice
1. KILL THE LICE
• Carefully read and follow product information exactly. Do not use too much or too little of the product.
• Do not treat family members or contacts who do not have head lice.
• Call your doctor or pharmacist for advice on selecting a lice killing product if your child has asthma or is allergic to ragweed or chrysanthemums.
• Do not use lice killing products on infants, pregnant or nursing mothers. Call your physician for advice.
• Do not treat pets. Head lice cannot survive on pets.
• Apply lice killing products to dry hair. Apply as the child leans over the sink. Do not apply in a bathtub or shower.
• Avoid exposing the rest of the child’s body to the lice killing products.
• Provide a towel to cover eyes. Do not use lice killing products near the eyes.
2. REMOVE THE NITS
• Although it takes time and is usually difficult, remove all nits for complete treatment. Dead nits cling to the hair and cause uncertainty about new lice.
• Most products do not kill all the nits. Survivors will hatch into crawling lice within seven to ten days, creating a cycle of new lice.
• Settle your child in a chair to read a book or to watch a video when removing nits.
• A fine-toothed comb is helpful, but many nits will have to be stripped away from the hair shaft.
• Grasp nits between the fingers and slide them off the hair shaft.
• Place nits into a plastic bag. Secure the bag tightly before placing into the garbage.
• If nits are slid off the hair and into tissues, they can be flushed down the toilet.
• Nits can also be snipped off each hair strand with blunt scissors. However, it is not necessary to cut a child’s hair.
• Most lice killing products require a second treatment in 7-10 days to kill any newly hatched lice before they mature and reproduce.
• Check your child’s hair daily for nits/lice for several weeks after treatment.
3. CLEAN THE ENVIRONMENT (Home/Car)
• Machine wash all washable clothing and bed linens which have been in contact with the infested person during the last three days. Articles should be washed in HOT water and dried in a HOT dryer. Non-washables should be dry cleaned.
• Combs and brushes should be soaked in a lice killing shampoo for one hour and then rinsed with hot water.
• Articles that cannot be washed or dry cleaned can be sealed in plastic bags for 14 days then removed and dusted for any dead nits or lice.
• Rugs, upholstered furniture, and mattresses (and any other personal items that cannot be washed) should be carefully vacuumed to pick up any living lice or nits attached to fallen hairs.
• Insecticide sprays should not be used because they may be harmful to family members and pets and are of questionable benefit.
• Vacuum and damp wipe the interior of cars and infant seats.
• Parental cooperation will help control the problem.
2. REMOVE THE NITS
• Although it takes time and is usually difficult, remove all nits for complete treatment. Dead nits cling to the hair and cause uncertainty about new lice.
• Most products do not kill all the nits. Survivors will hatch into crawling lice within seven to ten days, creating a cycle of new lice.
• Settle your child in a chair to read a book or to watch a video when removing nits.
• A fine-toothed comb is helpful, but many nits will have to be stripped away from the hair shaft.
• Grasp nits between the fingers and slide them off the hair shaft.
• Place nits into a plastic bag. Secure the bag tightly before placing into the garbage.
• If nits are slid off the hair and into tissues, they can be flushed down the toilet.
• Nits can also be snipped off each hair strand with blunt scissors. However, it is not necessary to cut a child’s hair.
• Most lice killing products require a second treatment in 7-10 days to kill any newly hatched lice before they mature and reproduce.
• Check your child’s hair daily for nits/lice for several weeks after treatment.
3. CLEAN THE ENVIRONMENT (Home/Car)
• Machine wash all washable clothing and bed linens which have been in contact with the infested person during the last three days. Articles should be washed in HOT water and dried in a HOT dryer. Non-washables should be dry cleaned.
• Combs and brushes should be soaked in a lice killing shampoo for one hour and then rinsed with hot water.
• Articles that cannot be washed or dry cleaned can be sealed in plastic bags for 14 days then removed and dusted for any dead nits or lice.
• Rugs, upholstered furniture, and mattresses (and any other personal items that cannot be washed) should be carefully vacuumed to pick up any living lice or nits attached to fallen hairs.
• Insecticide sprays should not be used because they may be harmful to family members and pets and are of questionable benefit.
• Vacuum and damp wipe the interior of cars and infant seats.
• Parental cooperation will help control the problem.
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