Treatment
There are many chemical and pesticide treatments available that aim to kill the louse, however except for hot air these often do not affect the eggs (nits). Wet combing is one of the most effective treatments, but persistence is required due to the life cycle of the louse, and it's recommended combing once every 3-7 days.
Another treatment is the "LouseBuster" machine which uses controlled, heated air to effectively dehydrate the lice and their eggs. Applying a blow dryer with proper technique works just as well on eggs, but not as well on hatched lice.
After treatment, patients are often instructed to wash all bedding and vacuum all areas the head may have been such as car seats, coat hoods and sofas, but this is not actually necessary since adult lice will die within 2 days without a blood meal, and newly hatched lice die within minutes of hatching. Combs and brushes may be deloused in boiling water for 5-10 minutes.
Tea Tree Oil is one of the few natural ingredients that have been proven to be effective in laboratory tests. Other home remedies such as putting vinegar, isopropyl alcohol, olive oil, mayonnaise, or melted butter under a shower cap have been disproven. Similarly, the CDC claims that swimming has no effect on treating lice, and can in fact harm the treatment by commercial products.
Read more about this topic: Head Louse
Famous quotes containing the word treatment:
“I am glad you agree with me as to the treatment of the mining riots. We shall crush out the lawbreakers if the courts and juries do not fail.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“To me, nothing can be more important than giving children books, It’s better to be giving books to children than drug treatment to them when they’re 15 years old. Did it ever occur to anyone that if you put nice libraries in public schools you wouldn’t have to put them in prisons?”
—Fran Lebowitz (20th century)
“[17th-century] Puritans were the first modern parents. Like many of us, they looked on their treatment of children as a test of their own self-control. Their goal was not to simply to ensure the child’s duty to the family, but to help him or her make personal, individual commitments. They were the first authors to state that children must obey God rather than parents, in case of a clear conflict.”
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)