If you thought that the end of classes also meant resting from the endless battles against those tiny bugs called lice. You were very wrong!
Summer is a very favorable time for pediculosis. The camps, swimming pools or camping with more children, are a great breeding ground for these parasites. Therefore, do not be alarmed if you return from a vacation with an extra and undesirable friend in your head. But stop! There are ways to fight them and even avoid them.
How to recognize lice and nits
They don't jump or fly and are passed from one hair to another by direct contact of heads, because as parasites they are they need to suck human blood, the only one they like. What a bad luck for us! And although they do not transmit diseases, they are really annoying and itch so much that one cannot stop scratching until they even get hurt.
It is almost impossible not to realize that they have made an appearance because children scratch in despair. That means that there are easy-to-see live bugs because they move!
It is true that nits (eggs), those yellow-white spots, can be confused with dandruff. They are distinguished because they adhere to the hair in such a way that they cannot be detached with water.
Adult lice they live between three and four weeks. They lay an average of seven eggs a day, especially behind the ears and on the back of the neck and very close to the scalp, because they need heat for incubation. At eight-nine days they become adults and already invade our head, ready to put another seven nits each.
Why they attack in summer
The answer is simple: children do more activities that involve more contact, which translates into greater possibilities of contagion. In addition, we talk about a hot time, in which lice find the ideal means to expand. And it is that heat and humidity are ideal breeding ground for this insect.
Children during the holidays:
They play a lot with children their age, so contagion is easier.
Selfies have become great allies of these annoying bugs, because if they do not get their heads together it does not appear in the photo.
They bathe in pools. And even if you don't believe it, water does not affect these parasites and even favors its expansion, since children must dry and share their towels without thinking.
They go camping or camping and share beds, sleeping bags, hats, combs ... Difficult to limit their freedom these days!
Which treatments are the most effective
Dr. Lucía Galán Bertrand, a pediatrician at the Medimar International Hospital in Alicante, explains that there are two types of pharmacy products to attack lice:
With insecticide The most common are 1% Permethrin and Malation, with different trade names and in lotion or shampoo. If it is possible to choose, the lotion is better, since this way we make sure that the treatment is the necessary time in your hair.
Without insecticide With Dimethicone the louse does not die from the effect of chemistry, but from suffocation. There is also the Octanediol that destroys the capsule of the louse so that it dies by dehydration.
These two are safe and do not generate resistance such as permethrin, when it is abused in excess of its use. So, the treatment is not effective.
How does it apply
The pediatrician makes a series of recommendations to make the treatment 100 percent effective:
- Wash your hair with your usual shampoo and dry it with a towel.
- Apply the product spreading it very well.
- Wait for the recommended time on the product package and spend the nits, the very fine and narrow barbed comb that almost all mothers know. If the treatment has been effective, the bugs will not move and they will come off easily.
- Then rinse with plenty of water. Read the product instructions to see if you have to use shampoo or not, because it depends on the manufacturer.
- Let it air dry or with a towel. Do not use a dryer!
In addition, Lucía Galán clarifies that “no treatment should be used with children under two years old, even if they do not contain insecticides. The best way to eliminate them is by running a nitster through your hair and even removing the eggs one by one with your hands. ”
Tricks to prevent
Although at this time it is more difficult because children are freer and less attached to us, Dr. Galán gives us some recommendations to get rid of the presence of this uncomfortable little bug:
- Wear short or collected hair.
- Do not wash your hair with insecticidal shampoos as a preventive measure, only when we see live lice. This way we will avoid toxicity problems and the risk that when the treatment is needed it will not be effective because the abuse can lead to resistance to the product.
- Pass the nits every 3-4 days.
- Recommend that they do not share towels, caps or combs.
- Avoid natural treatments because you are not proven scientific efficacy and can generate toxicity.
- A study published in the British Medical Journal states that Octanediol also serves to prevent the appearance of lice, not just to treat them. And it exists in spray for this purpose. It is a matter of trying.
Via Lucia, my pediatrician
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