The head louse is a tiny, wingless parasitic insect that lives among human hairs and feeds on tiny quantities of blood drawn from the scalp. Lice (the plural of louse) are a really common problem, particularly for kids. They're infectious, annoying, and often hard to eliminate.
While they're annoying to deal with, lice aren't hazardous. They do not spread disease, although their bites can make a child's scalp itchy and irritated, and scratching can cause infection.
It's finest to treat head lice rapidly when they're discovered due to the fact that they can spread quickly from person to person.
Indications of Head Lice
Although they're extremely little, lice can be seen by the naked eye. Here are things to search for:
Lice eggs (called nits). These appear like small yellow, tan, or brown dots before they hatch. Lice lay nits on hair shafts near the scalp, where the temperature level is ideal for keeping warm till they hatch. Nits look sort of like dandruff, just they can't be gotten rid of by brushing or shaking them off.
Unless the problem is heavy, it's more common to see nits in a child's hair than it is to see live lice crawling on the scalp. Lice eggs hatch within 1 to 2 weeks after they're laid.
Adult lice and nymphs (baby lice). If head lice is not treated, this procedure repeats itself about every 3 weeks.
With lice bites come itching and scratching. The itching might not always start right away-- that depends on how sensitive a child's skin is to the lice. It can often take weeks for kids with lice to begin scratching.
For some kids, the inflammation is mild; for others, a more irritating rash may establish. If your physician thinks this is the case, he or she might treat the infection with an oral antibiotic.
You might have the ability to see the lice or nits by parting your child's hair into little areas and checking for lice and nits with a fine-tooth comb on the scalp, behind the ears, and around the nape of the neck (it's uncommon for them to be discovered on eyelashes or eyebrows).
A magnifying glass and intense light might assist. It can be difficult to discover a nymph or adult louse-- frequently, there aren't many of them and they move fast.
See your medical professional if your kid is constantly scratching his or her head or experiences an itchy scalp that won't disappear. The medical professional should be able to inform you if your child is infested with lice and requires to be treated. Not all kids have the classic signs of head lice and some can be symptom-free.
Be sure to examine with your child's school nurse or child care center director to see if other kids have just recently been treated for lice. If you find that your child does, indeed, have lice or nits, contact the personnel at the school and childcare center to let them understand.
Are Lice Contagious?
Lice are extremely infectious and can spread out quickly from person to person, particularly in group settings (like schools, child care centers, slumber parties, sports activities, and camps).
Though they can't fly or jump, these tiny parasites have actually specifically adjusted claws that let them crawl and cling strongly to hair. They spread generally through head-to-head contact, but sharing clothing, bedding, combs, brushes, and hats likewise can pass them along. Kids are most susceptible to capturing lice since they tend to have close physical contact with each other and share personal products.
And you may question if Fido or Fluffy may be capturing the insects and passing them on to your family. Rest guaranteed that pets can't capture head lice and pass them on to individuals or the other way around.
Treatment
Your medical professional can advise a medicated hair shampoo, cream rinse, or cream to eliminate the lice. Medicated lice treatments typically eliminate the lice, but it might take a couple of days for the itching to stop.
Make sure that the medicine is safe for your kid's age. While over the counter hair shampoos are safe for kids as young as 2 months, other medicines are only safe for kids 2 years and older.
Treatment may be not successful if the medication is not utilized correctly or if the lice are resistant to it. After treatment, your doctor might suggest combing the nits with a fine-tooth comb and also might suggest duplicating treatment in 7 to 10 days to eliminate any freshly hatched nits.
Eliminating By Hand
If your kid is 2 months old or younger, you ought to not use medicated lice treatments. You'll need to remove the nits and lice by hand.
To get rid of lice and nits by hand, utilize a fine-tooth comb on your kid's wet, conditioned hair every 3 to 4 days for 3 weeks after the last live louse was seen. Wetting the hair in advance is suggested since it temporarily incapacitates the lice and the conditioner makes it simpler to get a comb through the hair.
There's no requirement to buy electronic combs that declare to kill lice or make nits much easier to eliminate. You likewise don't require to www.liceremovallosangelescare.com buy unique vinegar options to apply to the scalp prior to selecting nits.
Wet combing is also an option to pesticide treatments in older kids. Petroleum jelly, mayonnaise, or olive oil are in some cases utilized in an effort to suffocate head lice, these treatments may not work. If medicine doesn't work and you want to attempt these methods, speak with your medical professional first.
Make sure you eliminate nits thoroughly each week for a minimum of 3 weeks in a row, and enjoy your kid closely to see if any live lice return.
For more information, contact:
Lice Removal Los Angeles Care
777 S Alameda St #29
Los Angeles, CA 90021
310-935-1644