LICE Question

Ha! ha! ha! I myself had lice a few weeks ago (big shiver down the spine!)! I caught them from my three year old who caught them from someone at preschool. They are very very difficult to see. I could not see them unless I had combed them out with the nit comb and wiped onto a tissue. I did however notice one that had fallen onto my son's forehead when he was being treated. The louse was obviously trying to escape the toxic tea-tree fumes!
My head is itching now just writing about it...

Oh god...my friend just go through dealing with this actually. No they will not fall out of your head if you scratch and the person would half to probably have quite a collection for you to see them just sitting next to them. I mean they do crawl around and stuff but they stay pretty close to the scalp, as they feed on blood. The eggs can be anywhere on the hair strand but also tend to be closer to the scalp or behind the ears and on the neck. I googled it b/c I was so afraid my kids were going to get it after hanging out with them (not knowing they had it at the time). Knock on wood we are still lice free but it stresses me out just thinking about it!! You'll have to have someone else check your head for you if you think you could have it.

Too funny. Someone actually posted their lice problem on FB...now we have gone too far.

I have seen someone with the lice eggs or nits in her hair. It caught my eye and then I looked a little closer and was quite sure that is what it was. I don't believe they will fall out like hair dander. Google it and click images, you should see some great pictures if not at least sketches.

Go to headlice.org.

If you wash your hair like normal they use a pure white towel to towel dry your hair the stunned lice will be all over the white towel. This in one of the tricks I have used in the past to prove to a parent their child did indeed have head lice.

You can see bugs crawling on the head of someone you are sitting or standing by. If their hair is thin or maybe very light. I have seen it twice on someone, once in line at the fair. She was obviously on a first date with a new guy and I could not think of a diplomatic way of pulling her aside and saying I can see bugs crawling all over your head.

The other one was a med aid at an ICF-MR facility that I was working in. I say the bugs and felt awful. I told the RN and she told her that she noticed them so the lady would not be embarrassed.

Head lice are at epidemic proportions and fighting them is not that hard. it takes washing the kids hair with normal shampoo and sectioning off their hair and going through it bit by bit and pulling any live bugs off, pulling individual hairs out or snipping them off to be put in the glass of alcohol.

If you suspect you have head lice then pour some rubbing alcohol over your head and comb it through. That is what the docs at the local ER did to the lobby person when she was pregnant and could not use a live shampoo. It killed the bugs and the nits never opened.

From what I recall, they are about the size of fleas. So if you've ever had to deal with them..there you go.

As a PreK/Kindergarten teacher in a Chapter school we had the same children coming to school with lice weekly. These poor children are covered with eggs and live lice and even though they say they don't jump, Ive seen them jump.
The nurse was too busy to come do a "lice check", so we gloved up and caught a few eggs and live lice and stuck them on a piece of tape and sent it to her office. Next thing we know the child has a parent coming to get them.
The children would come back to school lice free....but we knew their homes were infested. Within a week these children would be itching again and playing dress up in the house center and shoving their winter coats in the closet on top of everyone elses. So make sure all bedding, coats, hats, scarves, etc are washed in HOT water or bagged for several weeks and washed in warm water.