Diagnosing a head lice infestation in your child and treating it

 Head lice infestation ca uses great anxiety to both parents and children. When a child comes home from school with an itchy head, his/her mom becomes worried. The very first idea she thinks is that of head   lice infestation. Though head lice are never a medical or public health hazard because they never cause any serious disease, they are one of the worst nuisances for sure. Being a loving and caring mom, you always like to get your child rid of this disgusting head lice infestation as soon as possible. 

It is quite possible that you do not know how to diagnose or verify lice infestation and get it treated in the most effective way. You may keep on getting more and more tensed while doing nothing fruitful practically. We are here to guide you how to diagnose lice infestation and get it treated properly. Let’s dive into the things. 

Diagnosing a head lice infestation

You may detect adult head lice, their eggs or nits and immature head lice or nymphs by looking closely through your child’s hair or the scalp. Chances are that you will not be able to find or locate an adult louse or a nymph because these are brisk enough to escape your searching fingers and hide into the thick hair of your child. However, near the scalp, you will find a lot of nits the presence of which will confirm that your child is infested with head lice. Also, if you find the nits at a distance more than ¼ from the scalp, be sure that the infestation is an old one. 

You can easily detect the nits if you use a magnifying glass to look for them. However, the best way is to use a fine toothed lice comb than to have a visual inspection alone when screening for lice infestation. If you are still not sure whether or not your child is infested, you may hire the services of some health care professionals, school nurse, local health department or agricultural extensive services. 

Treating for a head lice infestation

While looking for the best treatment against head lice, moms often get confused which one will prove the most effective one. They may ask an expert does tea tree oil kill lice? What if they use over the counter products, or should they go for a prescribed medication? In order to eliminate head lice completely and effectively, you will have to treat your infested child, other members of your family and the house itself very properly.

As per the instructions from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the treatment of head lice must be safe, non toxic, easy to use, cheap, effective and easily available without a prescription. Here are a few steps for you to follow in this regard. 

  1. Remove all clothing of your child.

  2. Apply whatever medicine you have chosen as per instructions on the label.

  3. Never use a cream rinse or any shampoo/conditioner before applying lice medicine.

  4. Wash the hair thoroughly and properly with a fine shampoo at the directed time after the application of the medicine. 

  5. Dress up your child with clean clothing after the treatment. 

  6. If you find any dead or inactive lice or lice eggs a few hours after the treatment, you should use a fine toothed lice comb to pull them out of your child’s hair. 

  7. Check, comb and remove lice or nits after every two to three days after the initial treatment. Keep treating lice infestation in the same way for two weeks. 

  8. Have a regular check on your child’s head for at least two more weeks until you get sure that all lice and nits are gone for good.  

No comments