I Got Head Lice

Specialties School

Published

It happened. The one thing I never thought I would get as a school nurse....I thought "no way it would ever happen to me, I'm way to careful". I was itching for 4 days straight, but I thought "Oh, it's probably that new shampoo I bought....". I was WAY wrong.

I had to apply 3 treatments over a span of 3 weeks to totally get rid of it. I also passed it to my poor husband and he needed 2 treatments. We treated our house of course, our cars, carpets, couches, etc. Several times. I must say, I never knew the extent of how tedious it is to get rid of until having it myself. I didn't have just 1, I had 9 adult sized lice in my hair the 1st day I did my treatment. I cried like a big baby and was mortified, not to mention I found out at work because one fell out of my head onto my papers I was writing on. I had to leave work to have my aunt apply the medicine. They allow students to stay in school with lice in my district, but there was no way I could work knowing my head was infested. So my aunt did my treatment because I didn't want to risk missing anything. I still had nymphs on my 2nd treatment, most likely because she missed a few nits. By the 3rd one, my scalp burned from the medicine and it burned my skin like crazy when I washed it off in the shower. A lot of my hair has fallen out, and still falling out now. It's thinned pretty bad. I still have dreams that I find lice in my hair. I still itch, here and there. I have a friend at work check my hair weekly. Ugh the horror.....

Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.
I keep a plastic fork in my desk drawer for times like this :)

a dinglehopper!

a dinglehopper!

My FAVE Disney movie!!!

:up:

Flashback to 2010: One day my nine year old said, My head itches (scratch, scratch). . .Jane Doe (friend) said she had lice last week, but it's not her fault. She got it at her cousin's house.” After visual confirmation, I went to Google to research which OTC brand was most effective. Couldn't find much difference between permethrin and pyrethrin, so though I hated using pesticides on her, I picked one, put on a long DVD, and got started. A couple days later, there was still a live louse. I did some more research, read lice are becoming resistant to these pesticides, and looked up the active ingredient in the expensive ($90ish a bottle) newer Rx treatment – benzyl alcohol. I found its available cheaply from chem suppliers online. When looking for an emollient substrate to mix with it, I stumbled across the Nuvo (Cetaphil) Method.” Turns out Cetaphil Gentle skin cleanser contains cetyl alcohol which has been shown to be effective in smothering lice. Google Dr. Pearlman – he's a derm who tried to formulate an exclusive lice tx to sell to his wealthy clients and used Cetaphil as the control. It worked better than his product, so he repackaged it as Nuvo”, and tried to make $$$$ off it. His study was published in the September 2004 issue of Pediatrics. He couldn't interest pharm companies to invest in it, so he came clean (haha) and released the Nuvo Method” using Cetaphil on the web.

My daughter already showers with Cetaphil since she has mild eczema, so I had it on hand and just switched to it for the 7 day follow up tx. I get it at Costco, or at CVS when they send out coupons. Worked great, smelled better, and left her hair soft. Still took a lot of time because you blow dry it in to shrink wrap the lice, but hey, they won't become resistant to suffocation, will they!

Here are some citations, Pearlman's method, and additional resources:

CDC. (2013, September 24). Parasites - Lice - Head Lice. Retrieved from CDC - Lice - Head Lice - Treatment

Medline ® Abstract for Reference 71 of 'Pediculosis capitis'. Retrieved from http://www.uptodate.com/contents/pediculosis-capitis/abstract/71

Mode of action. (n.d.). Retrieved from [/COLOR]http://www.liceworld.com/uk/behandling_lusemidler_virkemaade.htm(discusses how various treatments work…or not)

Parker, S. (2006, February 1). Healthy children. Retrieved from http://blogs.webmd.com/healthy-children/2006/02/got-lice.html

Pearlman, D. (n.d.). The Nuvo® method for head lice using Cetaphil® Cleanser. Retrieved from https://fsmn.org/sites/default/files/nuvo-method-lice-treatment.pdf

Holy COLOR FONT Batman!

Yeah, give me a minute to fix it!

To this day I still think it about like crazy, wondering how I could have gotten it! I am so careful when I do head checks. I don't like the students get too close to me. I honestly have no idea - I do not have children, I do not have nieces and nephews, little children that I hang out with, etc. I rarely go to the movies and if I do I wear my hair up and try not to lean back because I am always paranoid about getting lice from the seats. There is a case with a certain student who I have heard reports that the lice are "falling" out of her hair on desks in the room. This particular student loves to come see me and give me hugs....needless to say I put a stop to that right away.

Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

I've read about head lice being able to be transported via cell phone conversation from person to person; similar to direct head to head contact but coincidentally utilizing Star Trek style technology for transport. Maybe that would explain it.

I've read about head lice being able to be transported via cell phone conversation from person to person; similar to direct head to head contact but coincidentally utilizing Star Trek style technology for transport. Maybe that would explain it.

Does OldDude always get this frisky in May?

I've read about head lice being able to be transported via cell phone conversation from person to person; similar to direct head to head contact but coincidentally utilizing Star Trek style technology for transport. Maybe that would explain it.

Did you Snopes this? I'm almost certain it's an urban legend. Though, in all fairness, I haven't seen Star Trek.

Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.
Did you Snopes this? I'm almost certain it's an urban legend. Though, in all fairness, I haven't seen Star Trek.

What??????? You haven't seen Star Trek? You haven't used the term, "Beam me up Scotty?" You have some binge watching to do.

What??????? You haven't seen Star Trek? You haven't used the term, "Beam me up Scotty?" You have some binge watching to do.

It's just not up my alley. I haven't seen Star Wars either, which some people seem to take personal offense to.

I was on a date about a year ago and had this exchange-

Date: [something, something, something] about a Wookie

Me: I kinda get the reference, but I haven't seen the movie

Date: What?

Me: I said I understand that that is a reference to Star Wars, but I haven't seen it.

Date: No, no. I heard you; my response was "What?"

Specializes in hospice.
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