Nits And Several Methods Of Treatment
Nits are the eggs left behind by lice. Humans have been afflicted by lice for thousands of years. In humans, lice normally feed on the skin and blood located at the scalp. They can, however, be found on other body locations that have hair. Lice attach their eggs to the actual strands of hair with a glue-like saliva that they secrete. Removing nits from the hair strand can be extremely difficult and usually needs a special lice treatment. There are several different options available.
If you have lice, you first need to remove any external sources of it. Items in the home such as pillowcases, combs, and sheets, and any other things which have touched the area affected by the lice need to be eliminated. Wash anything that is washable. Non-washable items can be enclosed in a closed container for a period of time — at minimum, two weeks. After you have done all this, you need to treat your head.
Treating head lice can most easily be done by shaving the hair. It is not sufficient to trim the hair, rather, it must be shaved completely off. This is more practical with body hair than head hair, as shaving one’s head is generally frowned upon socially. There are other treatments that can be done when the lice affect head hair.
Less dramatic methods for treatment of head lice also exist. It’s helpful to use a lice comb to get nits out of the hair, but that treatment alone usually isn’t wholly effective. If you feel more comfortable with natural remedies, you’re in good company. Many people are concerned about the possible side effects of chemical solutions; however, the chemical treatments are almost always the best. All-natural solutions minimize the problem but rarely completely eradicate it. Some natural solutions may actually be more harmful than their chemical counterparts because they aren’t required to have government regulation!
Most often, doctors recommend using a chemical pesticide. 1% solutions of permethrin or pyrethrin are the most commonly prescribed. Both of these chemicals attack lice through their respiratory system and kill them after a few applications spread over a couple of weeks. Combing the hair with a lice comb is also necessary to remove eggs and prevent a future infestation. Both products are applied to the scalp area of dry hair. Because these are pesticides, a doctor should be consulted before using either product.
It is possible to treat lice with alternative measures as well. For example, some people recommend leaving your usual conditioner in the hair for over four hours. This techniques effectiveness comes from the fact that it interferes with the ability of lice to hold on to the hair, and makes the nit more visible. Among other possibilities are electric combs. Simply changing your hairstyle may be effective. Keeping your hair short is thought to discourage lice infestations. The track record for these methods of treating head lice is not as long as traditional methods, and there effectiveness has not been widely established.
Seeking the advice of a doctor is recommended due to the numerous treatments available. Having a doctor can best judge the treatment required, or give suggestions as to what he or she believes is healthy.
Treating head lice is a daunting prospect for most people, but is not as hard as it sounds. Effective lice treatment involves special shampoo, combing the hair with a special comb to remove the lice eggs, or nits as they are called, washing clothes and bedding, and sealing unwashable items in a plastic bag for a couple of weeks. Treatments can be recommended by physicians or pharmacists, and are available at any drug store. Treatment must be careful and thorough, but is more time consuming than difficult. Most school children will experience head lice at some point, and the stigma once associated with the condition has been proved baseless.
- norman horowitz
