Know You’re Lice-Free Before Holiday Gatherings
Stay Lice Free This Holiday
Winter break is a peak time for head lice, according to Wade Huntsman, owner of Lice Clinics of America® – Tulsa and Northwest Arkansas. Families gather, kids are home from school and having sleepovers and parties, and head lice spread.
“Every year, we see people getting head lice during the holidays, disrupting their peace of mind,” Wade said. “The best way to know you’re lice free for the holidays is to know how to identify them in the first place. It’s not as easy as you might think.”
According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), part of the National Institutes for Health, one of the challenges of dealing with head lice is correctly identifying the problem. “Because head lice can move quickly, their detection requires expertise and experience,” the NCBI said. “Expertise is key to diagnosis.” Even healthcare providers frequently misdiagnose head lice infestations.
Some people mistakenly think that they since their kids are not scratching their heads, then they are lice-free. But symptoms can take weeks to occur, and by then the problem has multiplied.
HOW CAN I DIAGNOSE?
“There is only one way to diagnose a case of head lice accurately,” Wade said. “That’s finding a live louse. That’s what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says, and it’s been our experience, too.”
“We offer professional screenings at our clinic and highly recommend them before and after school breaks,” Wade said. “It’s the best way to have peace of mind that your household is lice free.”
“You can’t rely on a child scratching his or her head because many children have no symptoms for several weeks,” Wade said. “Head lice are fast—they can travel eight inches per second and will go deep into a child’s hair when frightened, which can make them really hard to find on children with long hair.”
Sometimes, people think they have head lice but a professional screening reveals it’s just dandruff or dry skin. Parents shouldn’t have to pay to be treated for something they don’t have.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I HAVE LICE?
“If we do find head lice, you can be treated on the spot and leave our clinic lice-free in an hour,” Wade said. “We use the AirAllé® device, the only FDA-cleared medical device that provides fast and effective head lice treatment.”
Lice Clinics of America – Tulsa and Northwest Arkansas is the exclusive provider of head lice treatment using the AirAllé device, clinically shown to kill live lice and more than 99 percent of eggs (nits) using heated air to dehydrate the bugs in a single treatment. Most treatments take about an hour and are guaranteed to be effective.
“AirAllé has been used to treat more than 950,000 cases of head lice throughout the world with a success rate better than 99 percent,” Wade said. “That’s why we can guarantee that if we do find head lice during a screening, you’ll leave our clinic lice-free.”
LEARN MORE
Lice Clinics of America – Tulsa and Northwest Arkansas is one of more than 350 Lice Clinics of America treatment centers in more than 36 countries. Lice Clinics of America is the largest and fastest growing network of professional head lice treatment centers in the world.
To learn more or to schedule an appointment, visit liceclinicsmidsouth.com, email info@LiceClinicsTulsa.com (Tulsa) info@LiceClinicsNWA.com (Northwest Arkansas), or call Northwest Arkansas (479) 717-9204, Tulsa (918) 779-0001
