Got Lice?: Breaking the Stigma Associated with Lice

Remember wintertime when you were in elementary school? The school nurse took students out of the room, one-by-one, and led them somewhere private. She ran combs through your hair, and if you were lucky like I was, she'd braid your hair when she was finished. A few hours later, the teacher announced that there was a lice infestation in the school. Bookbags and coats were stored throughout the day in separate garbage bags, and fingers started pointing at the kid everyone thought was dirty, poor or just didn't fit, and nobody would sit with him at lunch because they'd get lice, too.

As adults, we don't encounter the same situation. Nobody checks your hair and your boss doesn't hand out garbage bags. Still, the murmurs resurface when we hear that word, "Lice."

Lice can be as small as a half a millimeter long, so even if you bathe every day and brush your hair three times a day, you won't notice that you have lice until it they have reproduced significantly. Itchiness is the most obvious sign that you have lice (unless you see them with your own eyes), so it's best to go to a doctor and get checked out if the itch persists. If you do see an insect in your head or pubic hair, it's most likely a louse. Lice are very small, but you will be able to identify head louse by its long body and six legs. Pubic lice have thicker legs and rounder bodies.

If you suspect that you have lice, comb your hair thoroughly looking for nits or lice. They can be very hard to see, but nits will attach themselves to the hair shaft very near to the scalp.

Lice are hatched from nits, extremely small eggs that are firmly attached to the hair shaft. Nits look almost like oval, yellow or white, seeds and take a week to hatch into nymphs. Nymphs look just like adult lice but are smaller. Seven days later, nymphs grow into full-grown lice. Nymphs and lice must feed off blood to survive, which makes their color darker than white or yellow and more difficult to see.

You can get lice virtually anywhere and once you have it, it's near impossible to deduce what infested you. I got head lice my first month in college. With my hip-length hair it's quite possible that I brushed against a couch in the lobby that lice had made their sanctuary. Lice can live for two days off the body. Besides direct physical contact with someone who has lice, there are a million ways to get lice, pubic lice can even live on toilet seats for 24 hours. As long as mammals have lived, there has always been the possibility of contracting lice.

The good news is there is only a miniscule chance of getting an infection transmitted through lice, however, other infections are quite plausible if scratching leads to an open wound. Some people think lice can be a pain to treat, but maybe they just don't like cleaning.

For head lice, there are a number of over the counter shampoos that should do the trick, but I recommend getting a 1% permethrin shampoo, which kills both nits and full-grown lice. My doctor gave me a prescription for a pyrethrin shampoo called lindane that worked great for all three feet of my hair. If you use over the counter shampoos, they may not have nit-killing capability. Rid brand sells a pack of two small combs, one with long, wide teeth to catch full-grown lice and another with shorter, smaller, and thinner-spaced teeth to catch nits. Covering your hair in baby oil will loosen the lice and nits hold on the shaft and make them easier to comb out. Comb at least every three to four days for a week. Of course, always read the label of any product before you buy it. Some shampoos are not recommended for children, pregnant or nursing women, or adults below a certain weight. If you are not able to find anything that you can use safely or the infestation continues after seven to ten days after treatment, see a doctor.

If a child under two years of age has lice, shampoos are not recommended as the first treatment. Baby oil and combing first, then wipe a section of hair with a cloth dipped in vinegar. If this treatment and treating your home do not work, then a doctor may prescribe something.

After treating your body, you must treat your home. Anything that the infested person has had contact in within the past three days needs treatment. Wash all bed coverings (sheets, blankets, pillowcases, etc.) and dry with heat and vacuum whatever cannot be washed, this includes pillows, couches, and carpets. Wash combs and brushes in very hot, soapy water or soak them in alcohol for an hour. If you have items that are not washable, store them in an air-tight bag for two weeks.

Preventing lice is nearly impossible, since people don't advertise if they have lice. Refrain from sexual or any other physical contact with someone who has not completed treatment, but other than that, there is no way to know where lice lurk.