Schools in certain states in the U.S.—like
Texas, California, Florida—are known to have some of the most stringent lice policies. Lice screenings are regularly conducted by school nurses in order to prevent any outbreak.
The scalp, neck and behind the ear area are checked for any signs of lice. We at Lice Troopers help you identify signs of a lice infestation.
Itchy Scalps
If you find your child relentlessly scratching their head, keep an eye on them. We’re not talking about the occasional head scratching while your kid is running about in the bright sunshine.
Make sure you are looking for signs of an itchy scalp when your child’s hair is freshly washed, free from residue and sweat. If you notice your child being irritable with the itching, you can be certain something is wrong.
White stuff
From a distance, you notice some white-ish stuff in your child’s hair. Don’t wait it out. Immediately check for what it is. Usually children are not using styling products hence there should not be any kind of product build-up in their hair. Nits are the eggs.
In checking for nits, you may have to get your hands dirty. Wet your child’s hair with water, apply conditioner through the lengths, brush out the hair with a fine-tooth comb. If the white stuff you see is coming out of the hair, it’s most likely nits.
Rashes
If your child has been scratching their hair and you haven’t noticed yet, they are probably trying to hide it from you. Rashes and sores appear due to the amount and severity of the itching inflicted on their scalp. If you see red blotchy spots on their scalp, that’s an indication of something wrong.
Redness can also be caused due to an allergic reaction to the bite. If not addressed, these can become infected. Rigorous scratching can cause open wounds in your scalp. When bacteria gets to such wounds, they tend to get infected and may require more attention than a regular lice infestation.
Difficulty in sleeping
Lice tend to be in hyper active mode at night. They know they can’t be seen in darkness and hence can have a feast while the host is trying to fall asleep. All that movement and biting can cause for a very itchy irritable scalp and hence would cause problems for your child when sleeping. Once again, alarms should go off when you notice signs of a bad night with your child.
Schools generally don’t tend to take such widespread measures when screening for lice. You’re going to have to take initiative. If your diagnosis is correct, then a lice clinic is where you can get effective treatment in just one sitting.
If for any reason, you want to have this treatment at home, our
lice specialists conduct home visits as well. Call 800-403-5423 for an appointment with Lice Troopers.
