I've been treating head lice professionally for nearly 2 years and in that short time I have witnessed a startling increase in the number of cases of pesticide resistant lice. Many more children pass through my door having been treated with an over the counter or even a prescription pesticide and continue to have lice. A study was recently done which showed that 100% of the lice tested carried the gene for resistance to pyrethroid pesticides. Some lice are even starting to show resistance to Malathion as well. It all adds up to parents needing to be better informed about how to check for lice and how to treat it properly without toxic pesticides, since they aren't doing the job they used to do.
The most essential tool in proper lice treatment is a good comb. I believe that a great number of cases of treatment failure can be rightly attributed to the use of a poor comb. If nits aren't removed from the hair or otherwise killed (as with The LouseBuster medical device), the cycle of reinfestation begins. Sadly, so many parents are misinformed about home treatment for head lice. There are issues with many of the folk remedies that people attempt to use at home. They range from ineffective (olive oil treatment, vinegar, mayonnaise, etc.) to dangerous (kerosene, boric acid, alcohol, etc.). If parents want to treat at home, it is essential for them to have a good tool for removing lice and nits from the hair.
A good comb is made of stainless steel, has microgrooved teeth and can be boiled for proper sterilization. A family only needs one comb, since it can be properly sterilized between uses.
What I Do
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Household Lice Sprays and Special Lice Cleaning Products
My least favorite thing to hear is that a parent, in addition to treating their child with a pesticide that didn't work, has sprayed a pesticide all around the house, on mattresses, furniture, in cars, etc. The fact is that the "lice killing" spray that is found in drug stores is a .5% Permethrin product. To put it in perspective, the OTC pesticide shampoos for head lice treatment contain a 1% concentration of Permethrin and many many times they fail to kill all live head lice. That being the case, the only thing parents accomplish by spraying this junk around the house and in cars (where we often re-breathe the same air for long periods) is the polluting of their environment.
There are no special cleaning products or magic sprays to rid your home of lice. LICE DON'T LIVE IN PLACES THEY LIVE ON PEOPLE! A head louse can only survive 24-48 hours off a human head. The only thing you need to use to clear your home of any possible bug that may have come off a person's head is a vacuum, a clothes dryer, your freezer and/or an adhesive lint roller. If you can vacuum it or lint roll over it, do that. If you can't put it in the dryer for 30 minutes on high heat or stick it in the freezer overnight, then stick it in a bag or an empty room for 2 days. Changing vacuum bags, sterilizing the laundry, covering furniture with tarps or throwing away personal care items is completely unnecessary.
Just remember, no matter how much you clean your house, if you fail to treat everyone properly, you will still have a lice problem. People with recurrent lice don't have a problem because they failed to clean their home...it's because they failed to treat every affected member of the family properly and completely
There are no special cleaning products or magic sprays to rid your home of lice. LICE DON'T LIVE IN PLACES THEY LIVE ON PEOPLE! A head louse can only survive 24-48 hours off a human head. The only thing you need to use to clear your home of any possible bug that may have come off a person's head is a vacuum, a clothes dryer, your freezer and/or an adhesive lint roller. If you can vacuum it or lint roll over it, do that. If you can't put it in the dryer for 30 minutes on high heat or stick it in the freezer overnight, then stick it in a bag or an empty room for 2 days. Changing vacuum bags, sterilizing the laundry, covering furniture with tarps or throwing away personal care items is completely unnecessary.
Just remember, no matter how much you clean your house, if you fail to treat everyone properly, you will still have a lice problem. People with recurrent lice don't have a problem because they failed to clean their home...it's because they failed to treat every affected member of the family properly and completely
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
How to Avoid Lice
Yesterday I was part of a discussion on facebook about how to avoid getting lice. Someone asked my opinion (which always feels nice) and I responded with a solid answer. In addition to my good, common sense, scientifically sound answer, many other people posted their folklore responses.
So, if you want to avoid lice these are the things you don't need to do...
Don't put tea tree oil in your shampoo and conditioner.
Don't put tea tree oil in your child's hair or on your child's scalp, or around your child's hairline.
Fact: Tea tree oil can irritate the skin by causing a contact dermatitis. Despite many people's erroneous assumption that tea tree oil is a lice repellent and a pediculicide (killer of lice), you stand to create an allergic reaction more than you stand to repel lice.
Don't stop washing your child's hair regularly.
Fact: Parents desperate to thwart the myth that lice are a sign of poor hygiene often clutch tightly to the "lice don't like dirty hair" mantra. While it is true that lice find clean hair a better habitat, take my word that I have seen some fairly unhygienic people with lice. Maintaining good hygiene is important socially for children and since having dirty hair doesn't guarantee they won't get lice, there is no reason to change your routine.
Corollary to the above: Don't put oil in your child's hair. It doesn't make the lice slip, interfere with their ability to maneuver around the head or otherwise protect your child. It makes them look oily and dirty.
Don't use a specially scented shampoo or conditioner.
Fact: You rinse shampoo and conditioner out of your hair. There may be some residual smell, but the bulk of the value goes straight down the drain when the hair is rinsed. In addition, any shampoo that makes a claim of being a lice repelling shampoo is likely to be higher priced. In my family we use Suave 3-in-1 shampoo (shampoo, conditioner and body wash) for the kids. We then use a leave-in repellent spray.
What can you do to avoid your child bringing home lice?
1) For girls, pull their hair back daily for school and after school activities
2) For boys, keep their hair neatly trimmed (shorter is always better)
3) Educate your child about what not to do, i.e. don't share hats, helmets, brushes, hair accessories, etc. with friends; minimize head-to-head contact with other children
4) Use a leave-in repellent containing peppermint or citronella which are the two things known to be effective and reliable for repelling lice. Rosemary, tea tree oil, coconut, and lavender are not lice repellents.
Last but not least, even if you end up with one child with lice, doing regular head checks at home with a good soild stainless steel nit comb will help you detect it early and prevent it from spreading throughout the household.
So, if you want to avoid lice these are the things you don't need to do...
Don't put tea tree oil in your shampoo and conditioner.
Don't put tea tree oil in your child's hair or on your child's scalp, or around your child's hairline.
Fact: Tea tree oil can irritate the skin by causing a contact dermatitis. Despite many people's erroneous assumption that tea tree oil is a lice repellent and a pediculicide (killer of lice), you stand to create an allergic reaction more than you stand to repel lice.
Don't stop washing your child's hair regularly.
Fact: Parents desperate to thwart the myth that lice are a sign of poor hygiene often clutch tightly to the "lice don't like dirty hair" mantra. While it is true that lice find clean hair a better habitat, take my word that I have seen some fairly unhygienic people with lice. Maintaining good hygiene is important socially for children and since having dirty hair doesn't guarantee they won't get lice, there is no reason to change your routine.
Corollary to the above: Don't put oil in your child's hair. It doesn't make the lice slip, interfere with their ability to maneuver around the head or otherwise protect your child. It makes them look oily and dirty.
Don't use a specially scented shampoo or conditioner.
Fact: You rinse shampoo and conditioner out of your hair. There may be some residual smell, but the bulk of the value goes straight down the drain when the hair is rinsed. In addition, any shampoo that makes a claim of being a lice repelling shampoo is likely to be higher priced. In my family we use Suave 3-in-1 shampoo (shampoo, conditioner and body wash) for the kids. We then use a leave-in repellent spray.
What can you do to avoid your child bringing home lice?
1) For girls, pull their hair back daily for school and after school activities
2) For boys, keep their hair neatly trimmed (shorter is always better)
3) Educate your child about what not to do, i.e. don't share hats, helmets, brushes, hair accessories, etc. with friends; minimize head-to-head contact with other children
4) Use a leave-in repellent containing peppermint or citronella which are the two things known to be effective and reliable for repelling lice. Rosemary, tea tree oil, coconut, and lavender are not lice repellents.
Last but not least, even if you end up with one child with lice, doing regular head checks at home with a good soild stainless steel nit comb will help you detect it early and prevent it from spreading throughout the household.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Lice: The Gift That Keeps on Giving
It surprises me that parents are always hesitant to accept that there may be additional cases of lice in the family once they identify it on one child. There is a littany of responses I get to the statement, "Every member of your family who has hair needs to be checked properly for head lice." Some of the things I hear are:
"My son has a buzz cut...his hair is really short so I'm not worried about him."
"My kids don't share a room, so I don't think that my other (son/daughter) got it."
"We aren't a very snuggly/huggy family so I don't think anyone else got it."
And there's my personal favorite...
"The pediatrician/school nurse/hair dresser/next door neighbor who knows everything in the world about lice because her kids had it 12 times looked at my other kids and said they don't have it."
And the list goes on, but you get the point. I am not sure why parents, even in the face of finding live bugs on one child in the household, will attempt to deny the possibility that others may have acquired the bugs too. In fact, just recently, a parent brought us one child and left the second one at home. Upon getting to see the second child, it is clear that child #2 brought the lice home to the sibling we treated first!
Lice spread quickly in families because that is the nature of the problem. They move from head to head through contact that occurs during natural family things like hugging, carrying children, sitting on the couch watching movies together, etc. Once the level of live activity (euphemism for bugs) rises to a certain point, it becomes more likely than not that multiple family members will be affected. Unless you identify and treat every case in the family concurrently, you will be battling recurrent head lice infestation. Any family member who goes undetected and/or untreated will be a source of reinfestation for other family members. The best way to check all family members is by combing through dampened hair with a good quality solid stainless steel nit comb to look for nits. If anyone has even one nit, they must be treated properly.
Questions? Email me at njlicelady@gmail.com
"My son has a buzz cut...his hair is really short so I'm not worried about him."
"My kids don't share a room, so I don't think that my other (son/daughter) got it."
"We aren't a very snuggly/huggy family so I don't think anyone else got it."
And there's my personal favorite...
"The pediatrician/school nurse/hair dresser/next door neighbor who knows everything in the world about lice because her kids had it 12 times looked at my other kids and said they don't have it."
And the list goes on, but you get the point. I am not sure why parents, even in the face of finding live bugs on one child in the household, will attempt to deny the possibility that others may have acquired the bugs too. In fact, just recently, a parent brought us one child and left the second one at home. Upon getting to see the second child, it is clear that child #2 brought the lice home to the sibling we treated first!
Lice spread quickly in families because that is the nature of the problem. They move from head to head through contact that occurs during natural family things like hugging, carrying children, sitting on the couch watching movies together, etc. Once the level of live activity (euphemism for bugs) rises to a certain point, it becomes more likely than not that multiple family members will be affected. Unless you identify and treat every case in the family concurrently, you will be battling recurrent head lice infestation. Any family member who goes undetected and/or untreated will be a source of reinfestation for other family members. The best way to check all family members is by combing through dampened hair with a good quality solid stainless steel nit comb to look for nits. If anyone has even one nit, they must be treated properly.
Questions? Email me at njlicelady@gmail.com
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Desperation and Lice Treatment: A Dangerous Combination
I speak to dozens of parents every week about their head lice problems. There are many different "kinds" of parents I talk to: some who have grown weary of battling pesticide resistant lice with an OTC pesticide, some who have just learned they have a lice problem and either feel they can't or don't want to handle it themselves and some who have tried some folk remedy they found on the Internet and realize that it isn't working. The ones who resort to folk remedies sometimes sadden me. One such parent contacted me this week and I am still haunted by the call.
A mom of a 5 yr old girl called me and inquired about our services. She had "treated" the girl the night before after discovering live lice on her head. "What treatment did you do?" I asked as I always do. "I treated her head with Boric Acid and alcohol," she replied. I was speechless. I explained our treatment protocol to her and also let her know that we sell non-toxic products that can be used to treat at home if someone doesn't want to be treated professionally. I never heard back from her. I believe that the cost of professional treatment shocked her and she decided to continue treating at home. Later that morning, her words still echoing in my head, I called Poison Control to ask about the toxicity of Boric Acid on the skin. He told me it can cause burns and irritation and that using it on the skin was "not a very good idea."
This folk remedy is new to me. In 19 months of hearing the things that people read on the Internet, I've never heard this one. People still assume that just because it's on the Internet it's a good or safe approach to treating lice. In fact, the desperation people feel sometimes leads them to endanger their beloved children with flammable, toxic and occasionally cancer causing substances. It is difficult to put into words how distressing it is to hear about children who have been victimized by well-meaning parents who are simply doing what they can to conquer a difficult problem. If you know someone who is struggling with lice, or if you are struggling to combat head lice at home, there are better answers out there. For more information on lice treatment that WON'T harm anyone in your family, visit www.lousebuster.com or email njlicelady@gmail.com. Better lice treatment starts with better information and more education.
A mom of a 5 yr old girl called me and inquired about our services. She had "treated" the girl the night before after discovering live lice on her head. "What treatment did you do?" I asked as I always do. "I treated her head with Boric Acid and alcohol," she replied. I was speechless. I explained our treatment protocol to her and also let her know that we sell non-toxic products that can be used to treat at home if someone doesn't want to be treated professionally. I never heard back from her. I believe that the cost of professional treatment shocked her and she decided to continue treating at home. Later that morning, her words still echoing in my head, I called Poison Control to ask about the toxicity of Boric Acid on the skin. He told me it can cause burns and irritation and that using it on the skin was "not a very good idea."
This folk remedy is new to me. In 19 months of hearing the things that people read on the Internet, I've never heard this one. People still assume that just because it's on the Internet it's a good or safe approach to treating lice. In fact, the desperation people feel sometimes leads them to endanger their beloved children with flammable, toxic and occasionally cancer causing substances. It is difficult to put into words how distressing it is to hear about children who have been victimized by well-meaning parents who are simply doing what they can to conquer a difficult problem. If you know someone who is struggling with lice, or if you are struggling to combat head lice at home, there are better answers out there. For more information on lice treatment that WON'T harm anyone in your family, visit www.lousebuster.com or email njlicelady@gmail.com. Better lice treatment starts with better information and more education.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
The Problem with Pesticides and Lice
Most people are aware that we have developed a problem in this country with antibiotic resistant bacteria. What they (parents with children who have lice in particular) don't realize is that human head lice have developed a resistance to the common over-the-counter pesticides typically used to treat head lice on this country.
When going to the drugstore you will find two pesticides found in OTC preparations: Permethrin and Pyrethrum with Piperonyl Butoxide, which are the active ingredients in Nix and Rid respectively. These pesticides have become less and less reliable for eliminating live lice. Regardless of what the boxes may lead parents to believe, they don't kill the eggs (nits). The proof is in the pudding. Treat a child with one of those pesticides, don't comb the nits out and wait a week and a half...you will have bugs crawling around.
There are some newer treatments available by prescription: Sklice (Ivermectin topical), Natroba (Spinosad and Benzyl Alcohol), and Ulesfia (Benzyl Alcohol Lotion). Sklice and Natroba each kill a percentage of nits, but not 100%. Thus they require retreatment in order to be successful at ending a head lice infestation. The information on Sklice states that there isn't conclusive evidence as to whether Ivermectin may be a carcinogen. It also appears, from anecdotal reports, that physicians will only prescribe one round of Sklice which means that anyone using it will need some kind of follow up treatment. Sklice's own literature states that only "about 75% of users were lice-free 14 days after the first treatment." I'm wondering who wants to be in the 25% of people who are not lice-free. Natroba contains Benzyl Alcohol which is toxic and does get systemically absorbed into the blood stream. Likewise Ulesfia contains Benzyl Alcohol and does not kill nits at all.
Then of course there's the "gruesome twosome" as I like to call them: Malathion and Lindane. Malathion is a probable carcinogen which requires an 8-12 hour treatment period and Lindane is no longer endorsed as a treatment by the American Academy of Pediatrics in addition to being banned entirely in the State of California due to its toxicity in the environment. Currently, both are available by prescription in my home State of New Jersey. In the past 18 months I have seen an uptick in the number of children prescribed Malathion (Ovide) by their pediatricians. Parents who have used it and then come to my office because their children still have lice have reported that the stench was so stifling that they checked their child's breathing hourly to be sure they hadn't suffocated. Will we see emerging cancer clusters as the children treated with these pesticides age? I believe there is a good chance that we will. Why are we exposing young children to these noxious chemicals when there are good non-toxic alternatives? It's a question that haunts me daily.
So, will you treat with a pesticide or a toxic chemical when there are safe, reliable, non-toxic methods to eliminate lice infestation? For more information on non-toxic head lice treatment email njlicelady@gmail.com.
When going to the drugstore you will find two pesticides found in OTC preparations: Permethrin and Pyrethrum with Piperonyl Butoxide, which are the active ingredients in Nix and Rid respectively. These pesticides have become less and less reliable for eliminating live lice. Regardless of what the boxes may lead parents to believe, they don't kill the eggs (nits). The proof is in the pudding. Treat a child with one of those pesticides, don't comb the nits out and wait a week and a half...you will have bugs crawling around.
There are some newer treatments available by prescription: Sklice (Ivermectin topical), Natroba (Spinosad and Benzyl Alcohol), and Ulesfia (Benzyl Alcohol Lotion). Sklice and Natroba each kill a percentage of nits, but not 100%. Thus they require retreatment in order to be successful at ending a head lice infestation. The information on Sklice states that there isn't conclusive evidence as to whether Ivermectin may be a carcinogen. It also appears, from anecdotal reports, that physicians will only prescribe one round of Sklice which means that anyone using it will need some kind of follow up treatment. Sklice's own literature states that only "about 75% of users were lice-free 14 days after the first treatment." I'm wondering who wants to be in the 25% of people who are not lice-free. Natroba contains Benzyl Alcohol which is toxic and does get systemically absorbed into the blood stream. Likewise Ulesfia contains Benzyl Alcohol and does not kill nits at all.
Then of course there's the "gruesome twosome" as I like to call them: Malathion and Lindane. Malathion is a probable carcinogen which requires an 8-12 hour treatment period and Lindane is no longer endorsed as a treatment by the American Academy of Pediatrics in addition to being banned entirely in the State of California due to its toxicity in the environment. Currently, both are available by prescription in my home State of New Jersey. In the past 18 months I have seen an uptick in the number of children prescribed Malathion (Ovide) by their pediatricians. Parents who have used it and then come to my office because their children still have lice have reported that the stench was so stifling that they checked their child's breathing hourly to be sure they hadn't suffocated. Will we see emerging cancer clusters as the children treated with these pesticides age? I believe there is a good chance that we will. Why are we exposing young children to these noxious chemicals when there are good non-toxic alternatives? It's a question that haunts me daily.
So, will you treat with a pesticide or a toxic chemical when there are safe, reliable, non-toxic methods to eliminate lice infestation? For more information on non-toxic head lice treatment email njlicelady@gmail.com.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Kerosene and Head Lice Treatment
As I often do, I am looking at Google Analytics to see how people have found me. In the past few weeks an overwhelming number of people found "The Lice Lady Speaks" because they Googled "lice kerosene" or some derivative thereof. I am horrified. It means to me that there are more and more people out there considering this approach to treating lice.
Back in the olden days, parents would be treat head lice by putting kerosene in their children's hair. It chills me to think about how many kids had flammable liquids on their heads in the name of killing lice. Of course, back then, no one used seatbelts, kids didn't have carseats, people smoked and drank while they were pregnant and no one knew what cholesterol was! Today we know better. Or we should. There's an expression about a duck..."if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck." I feel that way about using kerosene on kids for head lice. If it seems extreme and dangerous (which is does to me), then it probably IS extreme and dangerous.
If you know someone who is planning to put kerosene (or turpentine or some other toxic, flammable, dangerous chemical) on a child's head, be the voice of reason and intercede on that child's behalf. There are safe, non-toxic ways to treat head lice. VisitThe LouseBuster to find out more. You can also email me at njlicelady@gmail.com
Back in the olden days, parents would be treat head lice by putting kerosene in their children's hair. It chills me to think about how many kids had flammable liquids on their heads in the name of killing lice. Of course, back then, no one used seatbelts, kids didn't have carseats, people smoked and drank while they were pregnant and no one knew what cholesterol was! Today we know better. Or we should. There's an expression about a duck..."if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck." I feel that way about using kerosene on kids for head lice. If it seems extreme and dangerous (which is does to me), then it probably IS extreme and dangerous.
If you know someone who is planning to put kerosene (or turpentine or some other toxic, flammable, dangerous chemical) on a child's head, be the voice of reason and intercede on that child's behalf. There are safe, non-toxic ways to treat head lice. VisitThe LouseBuster to find out more. You can also email me at njlicelady@gmail.com
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