Did you know that dealing with head lice is a $1 billion industry? So says The New York Times, in its dispatch on the latest lice advice from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Some key takeaways?
- Daily bathing is not an effective preventive.
- While it is certainly easier to detect and treat lice when hair is short, the length of one’s hair and how often it is brushed or washed has little effect on the risk of an infestation.
- Pets play no role in spreading them from person to person.
- “Never initiate treatment unless there is a clear diagnosis with living lice.”
- Effective over-the-counter remedies listed by the academy include a cream rinse called Nix.
- Among prescription remedies, the newest, called Sklice … requires only one application.
- Another recent prescription treatment, Natroba … kills both live lice and unhatched eggs,
- Whichever product you may use, first check the age for which it is safe, and never exceed the amount recommended.
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