What to Do When Lice Come Calling

When it comes to lice, the creepy crawlers invade unsuspecting heads more than ever when it's warm like now and for the next several months as kids head outdoors again to play. In other words, 'tis the season, and it will play out even more when camps reopen for the summer, be they day or overnight. It's all about close contact.
In other words, it's time to start head checks, best done under the strong rays of the sun or a bright lamp. And remember: If discovered, you must get rid of every single louse and nit (the eggs and young), or they'll continue to take up residence in your kid's scalp and hair-and maybe even yours.
You should also know that the adults are light-brown in color, look a bit like sesame seeds, and are fast movers. The eggs can be yellow, brown, or tan in color and resemble tiny seeds. Those, advises the American Academy of Dermatologists, will "appear to be cemented to individual hairs close to the scalp. If any egg has hatched, the seed-like object will be clear."
As for what you can do about these blood suckers once you find them, one option is a lice treatment service, many of which offer at-home treatments, such as these local ones:

• Lice Ladies: This mobile lice removal service does head screenings and/or treatments in the Greater Philadelphia area-city and suburbs, alike.
• Lice Doctors: This outfit has already successfully treated more than 130,000 clients with services in Philly and its metro area, as well as Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and the Lehigh Valley. It claims to be the only in-home service that has a medical doctor on staff.
• Lice Happens: This servicer will also come to you if you're anywhere in the Philadelphia of Pennsylvania metropolitan areas and boasts that it uses "non-toxic, pesticide-free products."

Or, you can choose to go it on your own, in which case you should...

1. Use one and only one lice shampoo and in the sink, not the shower or tub so as to minimize skin contact. Follow the directions very, very carefully.
2. Then, under a bright light and using the special lice comb that comes with the shampoo, go section by section, starting at the scalp and moving outward through the hair, looking for both the adults and the nits.
3. Then check wet hair under a bright light 8 to 12 hours later; if it looks like you've been successful, wait for 2 days before washing your child's hair to allow the medication to continue doing its job. (Wet hair slows down scurrying lice.)
4. If still in the clear, continue using the lice comb on wet hair every day for 2 or 3 more weeks.
5. A week or so after the first treatment, retreat as directed in the shampoo's directions to make sure you've gotten not just the adults but those nits, too, as they're harder to get rid of.
6. Then repeat steps 2, 3, and 4.
7. Meanwhile, be sure to have also checked out the entire family, as well as such items as helmets, headphones, hair bands, and the like.
8. Wash bedding and all exposed clothing in hot water and dry on the high heat setting for at least 20 minutes.

If not so lucky, however, and the lice are still hanging around in your child's hair after that first treatment, then it's time to call your dermatologist or pediatrician.
Meanwhile, if there's a silver lining to any of this, it's that, if the lice are discovered at school, the American Academy of Pediatricians continues to advise that your child be allowed to finish out the day, be treated and then return to school. In fact, it goes so far as to say that "no-nit policies are unjust and should be abandoned."
Then there's the Pennsylvania Health Department's take on lice, which pretty much follows the AAP's recommendations above:

• Children are to finish out the school day if lice are discovered there.
• Children are to be excluded from school if suspected of carrying lice, but can return to school immediately after the first treatment.
• Schools and school districts can adopt their own policies if they see fit.

Another bit of good news: If a louse should happen to get separated from its host-in other words, your child's head-it will die in a day or two without any blood to feed on.
Yuck!

Carol is a learning specialist who worked with middle school children and their parents at the Methacton School District in Pennsylvania for more than 25 years and now supervises student teachers at Gwynedd-Mercy University and Ursinus College. Along with the booklet, 149 Parenting School-Wise Tips: Intermediate Grades & Up, and numerous articles in such publications as Teaching Pre-K-8 and Curious Parents, she has authored three successful learning guidebooks: Getting School-Wise: A Student Guidebook, Other-Wise and School-Wise: A Parent Guidebook, and ESL Activities for Every Month of the School Year. Carol also writes for examiner.com; find her articles at http://tinyurl.com/1416px. For more information, go to http://www.schoolwisebooks.com or contact Carol at carol@schoolwisebooks.com.

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