Lice Clinics of America – Northern IL with locations in Spring Grove, IL and Vernon Hills, IL Shares Summer Lice Prevention Tips
Lice don’t take summer off, according to Erin Hawn, owner of Lice Clinics of America® – Northern IL, serving Lake McHenry and Kenosha Counties, and surrounding areas. In fact, summer months often spur an uptake in cases of head lice when children spend an extended amount of time together with sleepovers, camps, and family vacations.
“Summer vacations when kids are sleeping together, or staying with other families, are opportunities for the spread of head lice,” Erin Hawn said. “Here are a few things you can do to decrease the odds that your child will bring lice home from summer sleepovers and vacations.”
- First and foremost, get a professional head check before and after vacations or camps. Make sure that your child doesn’t already have head lice before you leave. Many children have lice without knowing it. It can take up to two weeks before symptoms like itching start to occur. Check again when you get home.
- Use a lice prevention product like Lice Clinics of America’s Lice Preventer Kit. It’s a non-toxic, pediatrician-recommended liquid gel in a no-mess dispenser that makes application fast and easy. You apply it at shower time, and it works as a kind of lice repellant for up to six weeks.
- Make sure your children have their own hair care tools and accessories like combs, brushes, clips and anything else they use on their hair. Sharing items that contain strands of hair is one way that lice can spread.
- If children will be swimming, they shouldn’t share towels at the pool or beach. Lice can hold their breath for up to eight hours, so if your child uses a towel that others have used to dry their hair, it could be an opportunity for head lice to climb on board.
- In general, discourage sharing. This can be a difficult lesson for parents to give children. We all want our children to be kind and to share. But in addition to hair care products, towels, pillows, hats, scarves, jackets and any other products where detached strands of hair might be found can be a source of head lice. Because head lice can’t live anywhere but on a human scalp, if they are on hair that falls off someone, they will do whatever they can to return to a human head.
Finally, if your child does come home with head lice, don’t panic or punish yourself. “You and your child didn’t do anything wrong,” Erin Hawn said. “12 million people get head lice each year in the United States alone. It’s like catching a cold.”
Erin also wants you to know that getting rid of head lice is easier than ever, thanks to Lice Clinics of America’s FDA-cleared solution, the AirAllé® medical device. It uses heated air to dehydrate lice and eggs and has been clinically shown to kill live lice and more than 99 percent of nits in a single treatment that takes about an hour, and the service is guaranteed to be effective.
“If you come in for a head check and we find head lice or nits on your child, we can treat him or her on the spot, and you’ll leave our clinic lice-free, guaranteed,” Erin said.
Lice Clinics of America Northern IL has two convenient locations at 10 W Phillip Rd Suite 123 Vernon Hills, IL 60061 and 2503 Spring Ridge Rd Suite C1 Spring Grove, IL 60081, and is open seven days a week by appointment only. Call 888-858-LICE (5423) or email info@liceclinicsspringgrove.com for more information or to schedule an appointment.
parent holding a school lice letter
CAN YOU HAVE LICE AND NOT KNOW IT?
No Itch Doesn’t Equal No Lice
SHARING IS CARING
CAN YOU HAVE HEAD LICE AND NOT KNOW IT?
While itching is a primary symptom of head lice, and most people associate head lice with an itchy scalp, many people are surprised to find they have lice but no symptoms—at least for the first few weeks of an infestation.
In fact, it can take up to six weeks for a child or adult to develop the typical itchiness that might prompt a head check. And even then, half the people with lice still won’t exhibit any symptoms associated with lice. Most lice experts encourage parents of young children to regularly check their children’s heads for lice. It is important to check thoroughly, as lice are notoriously difficult to see.
WHERE TO CHECK FOR LICE
The first place to check for head lice is around the ears and the nape of the neck. Those are the locations on the scalp lice seem to like best, due to being in a warm place away from direct sunlight.
HOW TO CHECK FOR LICE
Experts recommend using a fine-toothed comb to check for head lice up against the scalp. A study in the journal Pediatric Dermatology found that a lice comb is four times more effective at finding lice than a visual inspection alone.
Be aware that dandruff, dirt, and other common debris found in the hair are commonly confused with lice, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Therefore, the best person to perform a head check for lice may be someone trained to identify these parasites, like a health care provider, school nurse, or one of our professional lice clinic staff member here at Lice Clinics of America Greenville. Head checks are only $25 per family member. And if we find lice, we waive the head check fee if you are treated in clinic the same day.
WHAT LICE LOOK LIKE
To avoid mistaking a louse from a piece of dry skin or dandruff, it is important to know what head lice look like. If you pull lice out with a lice comb, live lice will be moving. If you are performing a visual inspection, use a magnifying glass and light to look for live lice. Lice will flee light. Some recommend wetting the hair first in order to slow the louse’s ability to move.
LICE TREATMENT OPTIONS
If you do find lice on a child, don’t panic. Lice don’t cause serious health problems, and lice outbreaks don’t have anything to do with personal hygiene. It simply means that your child had contact with someone that had lice. You didn’t do anything wrong. Staying calm can help you and your child find the right treatment.
Many panicked parents rush to drugstores to buy lice treatment products that may not work. Multiple studies show that the vast majority (98 percent in 42 states) of lice in the United States and other countries are now resistant to the most popular over-the-counter lice products. Applying these products can be an exercise in futility.
A new alternative for lice treatment is available from Lice Clinics of America in Greenville, SC—a fast-growing network of professional lice treatment centers. Lice Clinics of America has revolutionized lice treatment with its AirAllé medical device—an FDA-cleared Class I medical device clinically proven to kill live lice and 99.2 percent of eggs in a single session that takes about an hour.
The AirAllé works by using carefully controlled warm air to dehydrate lice and eggs. There are more than 150 Lice Clinics of America clinics in the U.S. and another 100 or so in 20 countries. Lice Clinics of America also offers a home Lice Removal Kit that makes home treatment much easier and more effective.
WORRIED YOUR CHILD HAS LICE?
SCHEDULE YOUR PROFESSIONAL HEAD CHECK TODAY WITH LICE CLINICS OF AMERICA IN VERNON HILLS, IL
