Head lice/ Sklice co-pay coupon

This is the old head lice post.
Please see the updated post about Super Lice from
March 2016

Diagnosis:

Learning that your child has head lice can be incredibly aggravating. Trust me I know.

You might be suspicious because your child is scratching their head or you may have gotten a call from school that your child was exposed. It is rare to actually see the live lice crawling around ( although I was once measuring a child's height and there was actually a halo of lice crawling all over her head...ugh, I get itchy just thinking about it) 

Once a child gets head lice, the mature or adult head lice can lay up to 10 eggs or nits each day. These nits, or lice eggs, hatch in about 7 to 12 days. Baby lice or nymphs are about the size of a pinhead when they hatch, and quickly mature into adult lice in about a 9 to 12 days. 

Lice don't like light and they move very quickly, therefore the diagnosis is often made by finding the nits. These are small white, opaque or tan specks that adhere tightly to the hair shaft. If you flick something and it floats away, it may just be dandruff. The nits are usually close to the scalp. If they are further down the hair shaft, likely they have been around awhile undetected.

Check your child's head in a methodical manner paying special attention to the areas behind the ears, the nape of the neck and the crown. Make sure you are in a well lit area. Remember that if one person in the family is infested, you should check everyone. ( you may be able to feel a nit on your own hair, it will feel like a tiny little knot) 

If you have found some bug or nits, it is time to treat.

There are several good approaches.

Treatment Options:

Here is the least expensive and least toxic way to take care of things.

1. loosen the nits with either plain white vinegar or an "egg releaser" product such as Clear. Both Clear and vinegar work well but might neutralize the active ingredient in the Nix ( permethrin) and therefore should be used before the Nix and rinsed out thoroughly.
2. Wash hair with Prell Shampoo. Other shampoos with a silicon or lipid based conditioner might coat the lice and eggs and protect them from the Nix
3. Towel dry the hair so that it is still damp. Work the Nix through the hair and leave on for 30 minutes. ( ignore the package insert that says 10 minutes)
4. Rinse out the Nix and comb out the lice and nits. ( this is usually when you will see dead lice)
5. Getting a special Lice Comb will make this job much easier. Metal flea combs from the pet store work, but the best one is probably the Lice Meister comb. (You can find it on Amazon for about $18.) The plastic one that comes with the Nix is pretty worthless.

Nix does NOT seem to be 100% effective so I follow this up with 2 extra steps.

1.If your child is old enough and cooperative enough to sit still, using a flat iron ( hair straightener) will sizzle any nits that are left. I would suggest doing this daily for a week. Take very small sections of hair at a time.

2. Three days after the treatment with Nix, soak the entire head with olive oil, cover with shower cap and bandana and keep on for 3 or 4 hours. This will suffocate any of the hardy survivors.

Between the Nix, the Flat iron and the olive oil I have had a VERY high success rate of getting rid of lice the first time around.

There is also a new product on the market called SKLICE. This treatment is available only with a prescription. ( the Noe Valley Walgreen's tries to keep it in stock) Sklice is fairly non- toxic. It is approved down to 6 months of age. The cost will vary depending on your insurance plan. Sklice claims that you don't need to do any nit combing after the treatment ( although some schools have a no nit policy)

As of June 2013 you can go to www.SKLICE.COM  for a $25 copay coupon.
This website will give you all the directions that you need along with other useful lice info.

If money is no object there are companies that will do the treatment and nit removal for you. These are very effective, but don't kid yourself, they can be QUITE expensive

If you are local...Hair Fairies-415-292-5900.  

Clean up:

Wash sheets and pillow cases for the first two days after treatment. Wash towels, recently worn clothing and any hats or hoods that have been in contact with the lice.

( Sometimes a trip to a Laundromat that has the big dryers and lots of machines can help you take care of the clean up more efficiently.)

Items that can not be washed should be dry cleaned, put in a hot dryer for at least 30 minutes or placed in a zip lock bag in the freezer for 24 hours. Sealing items in an airtight bag for several weeks is also a common recommendation, but may not be reliable. Combs and brushes should be cleaned by soaking in hot water ( about 130*F) for 10 minutes. All rooms and furniture, including car seat should be vacuumed.

Prevention:

Lice do not jump or fly. Since they travel by crawling, it is important that your children learn not to share brushes, hats, hair bows or headphones.Crowded coat racks are a good way to catch them.

Teach them to hang their coats separately. If you child is in a class or day care with a lice outbreak, talk about eliminating any dress up boxes. If you child has long hair, pull it back into pony tail or braids to minimize the risk.

Although it is unproven, some people say that washing the hair on a routine basis with tea tree oil shampoo or vinegar rinses may act as a prevention.

Remember that lice do not care about family income, education, lifestyle or cleanliness. 10 million Americans are infested each year.

Take a deep breath, believe it or not there are worse things. I had one mom who was taking care of her kids head lice when she realized that he also had pin worms!

*****

Sorry if this post made you scratch your head..

I don't think there is necessarily a "lice season", but occasionally we have weeks with a steady stream of calls about this issue.

 Those calls have been coming in. There are outbreaks at several Bay Area schools.

Lice are indeed one of the Ten Plagues after all..

Happy Passover/ and Easter to those who celebrate/

Nurse Judy

Update 11/14  There has been a back order on Sklice and we have had a hard time finding it in the SF Bay Area.
I will update when it is widely available again.