Treating Lice
If you find head lice or nits, you can buy special shampoo that kills them. Most grocery or drug stores carry the shampoo. To get rid of the lice:
- Use the lice shampoo, following directions, which usually involve lathering the shampoo in the hair and leaving it on for a few minutes before rinsing it out.
- Comb wet hair using the lice comb that comes with the shampoo to remove the lice and nits. The teeth on these combs are much closer together and more likely to remove the lice and nits.
- Avoid shampooing the hair for a few days, which will let the medication continue to work.
- Continue to comb through the hair once a day for several weeks to be sure all the lice are gone. The special shampoos often are more successful at killing the adult lice than the nits, so the directions may suggest using the product again a week or 10 days later to kill any lice that have hatched.
- Use hot water to wash clothes, sheets, pillow cases, blankets and anything the person’s head may have touched.
- Seal non-washable items such as stuffed animals in a plastic bag for several weeks.
- Vacuum carpets and furniture. Do not use lice-killing sprays. The chemicals in those sprays cause more harm than the lice.
Lice don’t live very long off the human head, so your best bet is to spend most of your energy combing through the hair. Lice don’t fly or jump. They often spread when kids put their heads together, or when they wear each other’s hats or scarves, or share combs or brushes. Remind your child to avoid sharing those things.
If your child or someone else in your family still has lice after a few weeks, it could be because the shampoo didn’t work. Ask your child’s pediatrician or a dermatologist for advice.
Pubic lice are treated similarly – with special shampoo, and then combing through the hair to remove the lice and nits. If the treatment doesn’t work, you may need a prescription. For stubborn cases, see a dermatologist.
See a doctor such as a dermatologist for treatment of body lice, which can spread disease.
If your child wants to know more about lice, he or she can visit Lice: Creepy Crawlies in Your Hair.
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