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lice treatment

Choosing A Safe Lice Treatment

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When choosing a lice treatment, it’s important to choose one that is safe for your children. That’s obstacle number one and choosing one that is effective is obstacle number two. Luckily, our lice treatments can fulfill both of those requirements. But many other lice treatments contain harmful chemicals and children are more vulnerable to being effected than adults. Their bodies are still growing and developing so toxin can mess with their system in a very negative way. Choosing a lice treatment can be difficult if you don’t know much about the ingredients. Drugstore treatments usually can’t be trusted but here are some toxins to look out for.

Mercury

It sounds cool because it shares its name with a planet but Merciry is an aqueous metallic substance that is mined from the earth’s crust. It is commonly found in atmospheric emissions resulting from coal, power plants, cement production, smelting operations, gold mining and various other sources. Dentists use mercury to fill cavities. There’s a small chance that the mercury will slowly leach into your child’s body, and cause long-term neurological damage. It can also harm peripheral vision, cause skin rashes and limit one’s ability to talk, hear or walk properly. The chances of this happening are small but why risk it when it’s our children? Do not use a lice treatment with Mercury. It can soak into the scalp and cause harm.

Lead

It’s pretty common knowledge that lead can be harmful. The production of pencils with actual lead was stopped in 1978 because people were getting lead poisoning from them. It also became illegal for paint to contain lead in 1978. Lead can be found in soil. Lead is a neurotoxin that can negatively affect the blood, brain and nervous system, kidneys and cognitive ability (scary!). Lead can also be found in pharmaceutical drugs, battery electrodes, radiation shields at the doctor’s office, construction and architectural materials, ammunition, candle wicks, polyvinyl chloride plastic (PVC), fishing tackle, decorative glass, artist’s supplies and Christmas lights. If you know that a lice treatment contains lead, stay away!

Bisphenol A —BPA

This toxin is commonly referred to as BPA —  a plastic-derived compound. Approximately 90% of Americans carry detectable levels of this estrogen-mimicking menace in their blood, and in addition to the chemical messing with the reproductive system, it is shown to trigger breast and prostate cancer as well as hyperactivity in children. You can find BPA in thermal paper in grocery store receipts, dental sealants, polycarbonate plastic food packaging, disposable plastic cutlery, water bottles, the linings in metal beverage/food cans, a whole host of children’s products (baby bottles, especially), sunglasses and toxic head lice remedies. Don’t risk the side-effects of BPA.

Tea Tree Oil

Tea tree oil sounds so natural and healthy and while it is “natural” that doesn’t mean it hasn’t had negative side-effects in children. Recent studies found that frequent exposure to tea tree oil from shampoos, conditioners, hair gels, colognes or other products can cause breast growth in young boys and early breast growth in young girls as early as age 4. Tea tree oil contains phytoestrogens, which mimic the hormone estrogen, which makes sense why it has the above side-effects. Treating head lice with tea tree oil often requires multiple applications and extreme vigilance to rid your family of head lice. Multiple applications can cause harm and un-wanted side-effects. Be careful when using tea tree oil.

Make sure you know the ingredients in a lice treatment remedy before using. Using something with potential side-effects on our children is not worth the risk.

school lice policy

Norfolk County School Head Lice Policy

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Norfolk county has policies regarding health conditions, including head lice infestations. All the policies can be found on their website.

“Screening for head lice is done as the need arises,” according to the website. “Infected children will be excluded from school until treatment is received and lice are cleared. We suggest that you examine your child’s hair at the beginning of the school year and periodically throughout the year. If you detect head lice or nits, contact the school nurse so that we can give you further information and examine students in your children’s classes. Also, notify the parents of your children’s playmates so that they can check their hair.”

Information About Head Lice

A head louse usually stays on the head, and its nits secret a glue-like substance that cement themselves to the shaft of the hairs. Lice can reproduce quite rapidly since the eggs usually hatch within a week and the newly hatched young reach maturity and reproduce eggs within two or three weeks. They lay eggs on the hair shaft. Lice eggs are called nits and are usually white or gray in color. They may appear to look like dandruff but they will not budge by shaking the hair like dandruff.

Transmission Of Head Lice

Lice infestations usually come about by making direct contact with an infected person or by direct contact with their personal belongings, especially combs, hats, scarves or brushes.

“Long hairstyles, the use and exchange of headbands, and the use and exchange of protective headgear in athletic programs create conditions for lice to spread.”

Prescription Medications

If a child has prescription meds for their lice the following rules apply:

  1. The medication must be left at the school office accompanied by a permission form signed by a parent or guardian. The permission forms are available at the respective schools.
  2. All prescription medication must be in a container properly labeled with the child’s name, doctor’s name, medication name and directions for administering

Non-Prescription Medications

If a student must take a non-prescription medication during school, the following procedures are to be followed.

  1. Parent/Guardian signed and dated authorization or permission to administer the medication during school.
  2. The medication is to be in its original packaging and is labeled as dispensed by the prescriber or pharmacist.
  3. The label must name the child and identify the medication, strength, time interval and route to be administered.

If needed, the physician may be contacted for clarification on medication administration.

We always recommend coming to our clinic for a head check before the school year begins. Our treatment is one-and-done, without the hassle of worrying about continual treatment. Parents love our treatment because they don;t have to worry about sending their child to school with a prescription. They have complete control and know with 100% certainty that the infestation is gone. Give us a call for a head check and possible treatment!

coconut oil

Coconut oil: Effective Or Not?

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Coconut Oil

On a scale from OTC treatments (ineffective) to our AirAllé® treatment (effective), coconut oil falls somewhere in the middle. In a clinical study, researchers found that a combo of anise spray and coconut oil outperformed traditional OTC lice treatments, specifically permethrin lotion. According to the study, out of 50 patients, 41 percent were cured using this combination. While around 23 percent were cured using an over-the-counter treatment. Both have a much lower efficacy than our AirAllé treatment, which has a 99.2 percent efficacy rate. It is the most successful lice treatment on the market and uses revolutionary technology.

OTC treatments declining in effectiveness is well-documented. Over time, head lice have built up immunity, making them less susceptible to treatment. That is why we call them “super lice.” They are super resistant, and also super frustrating for parents.

Similar To Other Home Remedies

Coconut oil acts similar to mayonnaise and olive oil but is a bit more reliable. It’s meant to suffocate lice and loosen bonds. Coconut oil is safer than mayonnaise or olive oil because it contains nutrients that are actually good for you. In the study, the reason for the effectiveness is because it’s mixed with anise oil. Coconut oil as a stand-alone treatment will not be effective.

Even if coconut oil mixed with anise oil is more effective than OTC lice treatments and other home remedies, it’s still only about 41 percent effective, with is not comparable to our treatment that is successful every time. We are so confident in our AirAllé® treatment that if it is not successful, we’ll treat you again for free within 30 days. It’s not worth trying a treatment that is successful less than half of the time when our works every single time. Do yourself a favor and read the reviews on our website. May parents bring their kids to us after trying many treatments that were unsuccessful.

parents

Tips For Parents: Positive Discipline- Part 2

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We promised our parents some more advice on positively disciplining your children and we are here to deliver. Here are 4 more tips for disciplining your children in an effective and positive way.

1. Give Attention To The Behavior You Like- Not The Behavior You Don’t

The root of bad behavior is often because of a desire for attention. Sometimes it pays to ignore the bad behavior and give attention to the good behavior. Dr. Katharine C. Kersey, the author of “The 101s: A Guide to Positive Discipline,” calls this the “Rain on the grass, not on the weeds” principle. For instance, in the middle of a tantrum, play deaf or walk away and your child will quickly learn that that behavior is not what gets your attention. There’s a better way to communicate.

2. Learn To Redirect

Kids who hear “no” or “Don’t” an excessive amount, might be more prone to tune those words out. Instead of telling your child what not to do, Kersey recommends offering a positive behavior to replace the misbehavior. As an example, a child acting out at the super market could be told to help pick out fresh fruit. Redirecting behavior is often a great way to teach your children what type of behavior is acceptable.

3. Exploit the “energy drain”

It can be simply exhausting when our children act up or give us a run for our money. Jim Fay, the founder of the organization Love and Logic calls this the “energy drain” principle. For example, you might stop a sibling fight by saying “Wow you need to take that fight with your brother somewhere else because listening to that could cause me a big energy drain, and I don’t think I’ll have the energy to take you to the park after dinner.” Chances are, they want to go to that park you promised them a lot more than they want to fight with their brother.

4. Don’t Resort To Bribing

This may be controversial. Some parents might argue for bribing and some might argue against it but Fay warns against it. Bribing is tempting but it can send the wrong message. What kids hear is “You don’t want to be very good and you have to be paid off,” says Fay.

Fay says that “the best reward for a kid is time with the parents.” Kersey agrees about quality time and recommends that each parent spend at least 15 minutes one-on-one connecting with your child everyday. “Do something your child wants to do,” says Kersey. “Whisper in their ear how wonderful they are, how much you love them… it’s the best investment you can make for your child.”

discipline

Tips For Parents: Positive Discipline- Part 1

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Discipline doesn’t always have to be a battle. Parenting has its ups and downs but the way we raise and discipline our children will affect who they grow up to be. Positive discipline is important and we’ve gathered a few tips from experts that may help.

Understanding The Meaning Behind The Behavior

Instead of blowing up at your child over their behavior, have you ever stepped back and asked yourself why they might be behaving that way? Naomi Aldort, the author of “Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves,” says that children want to behave well; if they seem to miss the mark, it’s not without a valid reason. “The most important [thing] is to realize that whatever a child does, we may label as bad, [but really] the child is doing the best he can. It’s our job as parents to find out why he is doing it, Aldort says. “Once we know the valid root of the behavior, we can easily remove the cause or heal the emotions, and the child won’t be driven to behave in that way anymore.

Ask yourself if your child is acting out as a result of feeling neglected. Perhaps they are experiencing problems at school. Maybe they don’t feel heard. Are there any corrections you can make to your behavior that may be affecting their behavior? “A lot of what we expect of children is unreasonable,” according to Aldort.

Focus On Controlling Yourself For Your Children

Often times it’s hard to either recognize our own faults or take responsibility for certain behaviors within our children. It can be very hard to keep cool in the heat of the moment, but Dr. Katharine C. Kersey, the author of “The 101s: A Guide to Positive Discipline,” says that parents need to model types of behavior they want their children to pick up on. “We should not do anything in front of [our children] that we don’t want them to do,” she advises. In a case of talking back or behavioral flare-ups, this may mean stepping away and counting to ten or take a deep breath to cool down. It’s always better to handle situations when you’re cooled down so it can be a rational discussion (on your end anyway).

Jim Fay, the founder of the organization Love and Logic, agrees. “Anger and frustration feed misbehavior,” he says. Fay offers an unusual tactic for keeping your voice in check: instead of yelling that your child is doing something wrong, try singing it. Fay teaches parents what he calls the “Uh Oh” song. If a child throws a toy after he’s been asked to stop, you might sing, “Uh Oh, that’s sad you threw your truck again. I think it’s time the truck went away.”

Be Consistent With your Discipline

Aldort says that parents often overlook certain behaviors and figure they will pass. “But guess what?” she says. “It doesn’t pass.” Don’t just ignore behaviors, that’s doing a disservice to your children. If your child bites his sibling, for instance, hold their arm and tell them how unacceptable their behavior is. If they continue, then it is time to remove them from the situation.

If you’re a parent, you know that children sometimes try to test the limits by arguing with the rules. It never fails to repeat: “I love you too much to argue.”

Parenting is a journey filled with ups and down. What is your advice about disciplining children in a positive way? Leave a comment below and stay tuned for more tips in our next blog post!

treatment

4 Quick Facts About Head Lice Treatment

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1. Anyone Can Contract Head Lice

No matter your race, gender, height, weight, as long as you have hair, you can get head lice. Head lice are most common among children in elementary school but if an adult makes head-to-head contact with a child who is infected, then the adult can get it as well. Head lice have absolutely nothing to do with cleanliness or hygiene. A less common way to get head lice is by sharing items such as combs or brushes but only if they are used right after the infected person used it because lice can’t survive more than 24 hours off the head. Lice cannot jump or fly, they can only crawl.

2. If Your Child’s Head Starts To Itch From Lice, They May Have Had It For a While

When a child’s head is itchy because of lice, it’s usually an allergic reaction to saliva from lice bites. It often takes three or four weeks for the reaction to kick in and start itching.

3. Regular Head Checks Are A Good Way To Find Lice Early

The sooner you catch head lice, the better. It’s best to treat lice as soon as possible before it gets even more severe (although we can treat lice no matter how severe it is). Quick head checks once a week are a great way to catch lice early on. Make the head checks more regular if there’s an outbreak at your child’s school.

4. The Best Treatment For Lice Is Our AirAllé

If you’re looking for lice treatment, look no further than our amazing signature AirAllé treatment. It’s FDA-cleared and medically proven to effectively dehydrate lice and eggs. It’s unique and only available within the Lice Clinics of America network. We do it all so you don’t have to and you won’t have to come back because we eradicate lice the first time. The AirAllé takes care of even the lice that you can’t see.

head-lice-on-plane

Head Lice On A Plane: A Family’s Stressful Experience

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Imagine discovering head lice on your child while you’re 35,000 feet in the air. Then imagine getting kicked off your flight because of it. That is what happened to Sports Analyst, Clay Travis and his family while traveling home from a family vacation in Paris. Travis turned to his website to write about the incident.

Clay Travis’s Website

He said that during their trip, they gave their three children regular baths and combed their hair and they never saw any signs of head lice.

“Until, that is, halfway over the Atlantic Ocean when my six year old son needed to go the bathroom. While he was standing in line for the bathroom, my six year old started to scratch his head. My wife checked to see why he was scratching his head and saw then that he had lice. Several flight attendants rushed over too and peered down at my son’s head. ‘Oh, my God, he has lice,’ they said.”

That’s when Travis’s wife came over to tell him about what had just happened. Travis and his wife knew where the lice came from because their children had been around cousins a few weeks ago who had lice. They used over-the-counter treatments as a precaution after playing with the cousins but apparently, it did not work.

She informed her husband that flight attendants told her that when the plane lands in Minneapolis for their connecting flight, the Travis family wouldn’t be allowed to leave the plane because their six-year-old has head lice. That seemed strange to Travis so he went online to find any policies about lice from the airline. He couldn’t find any specifics about Delta Airlines and head lice but he did come across head lice information from the CDC.

What The CDC Says About Head Lice

“Including the fact that the CDC recommends that kids no longer be sent home from school if they have lice.” This is what he found:
“Students diagnosed with live head lice do not need to be sent home early from school; they can go home at the end of the day, be treated, and return to class after appropriate treatment has begun. Nits may persist after treatment, but successful treatment should kill crawling lice.
Head lice can be a nuisance but they have not been shown to spread disease. Personal hygiene or cleanliness in the home or school has nothing to do with getting head lice.
Both the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) advocate that “no-nit” policies should be discontinued. “No-nit” policies that require a child to be free of nits before they can return to schools should be discontinued for the following reasons:
Many nits are more than ¼ inch from the scalp. Such nits are usually not viable and very unlikely to hatch to become crawling lice, or may in fact be empty shells, also known as ‘casings’.
Nits are cemented to hair shafts and are very unlikely to be transferred successfully to other people.
The burden of unnecessary absenteeism to the students, families and communities far outweighs the risks associated with head lice.
Misdiagnosis of nits is very common during nit checks conducted by nonmedical personnel.”

He goes on to write about what a frustrating hassle the whole situation was. They were not able to fly home on their scheduled flight and his son was humiliated because he felt like it was his fault.

We are not taking a position on who is right or wrong but it may be worthwhile to bring your child to our clinic for a head check before boarding a plane, to avoid any possible hassle such as what the Travis family went through.

This situation may have been a result of a lack of head lice education. First, Clay Travis and his wife had no idea that over-the-counter treatments don’t work anymore and second, the flight attendants didn’t seem to know much about head lice and they acted out of fear like many do when discovering head lice. If we make lice education a norm in our society, parents might be able to better handle lice infestations.

super lice

Super Lice Treatment: How Do We Treat It?

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Super lice are on the rise and we’re here to tell you all about it. But first, we’ll start out by telling you what head lice are.

Head Lice

Head lice are little insects that live on the scalp and survive by sucking human blood. They need that blood supply to survive. Head lice do not live on pets or other animals, which is often a misconception. A louse ( the singular term for lice) has six tiny legs and a curved claw and they can move very fast. They hold onto the hair follicles and their nits (eggs) secrete a glue-like substance that attached them tightly to the hair. Head lice cannot jump or fly and they are spread through direct head-to-head contact. Head lice don’t dig into the skin, they stay on the surface and suck blood.

Super Lice

Now that you know what head lice are, let’s talk about super lice. Super lice got their name from the media in 2015 when public research showed that strains of head lice had developed a resistance to pyrethroids, the common pesticide used to kill lice in over-the-counter lice treatments and shampoos. What this means is that many over-the-counter, drugstore and medical head lice treatments no longer work effectively. Lice have mutated to become stronger and resistant and this has left parents frustrated.

Super Lice Studies

Extended 2016 research showed that 48 states in the U.S had been overrun by super lice. Super lice are now more common than regular lice, meaning drugstore head lice treatments may as well go out of business. Research showed that the efficacy of over-the-counter head lice treatments went from 96 percent to 28 percent. Super lice are not monstrous in appearance; they look and act the same way regular lice do. The only difference is the resistance that super lice have developed to drugstore lice treatments. Luckily, our AirAllé treatment kills lice whether they are regular or super lice and their eggs. It utilized controlled, warm air to dehydrate head lice and their eggs. That’s essentially why we went into this business. We wanted to offer effective treatment to parents so they wouldn’t resort to ineffective options. Put us to the test and we’ll put your apprehensions to rest.

If you need head lice treatment, Lice Clinics of America, Medway is the way to go. Give us a call for a head lice screening and to book an appointment! (508) 292-6761.

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10 Essential Life Skills To Teach Your Children

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Every parent wants the absolute best for their children. We want to raise our kids to be happy, successful and learn how to live on their own someday. We want our kids to be better than us. To learn more, love more and be more successful. While there are many skills they will learn in school or from other people, here are 10 life skills that we should teach our children. They’ll thank us someday.

  1. Teach Them To Give Back

Teaching your children to serve others at a young age instills humility in them. We want our children to appreciate what they have and to develop a desire to help those less fortunate.

  1. Social Skills

Social skills are a learned skill. If they aren’t taught by their parents, who will teach them? Social skills should be taught at a young age. This skill is essential to build relationships and to get jobs.

  1. Manners

You can instantly tell if a child has been taught manners or not. People are impressed by manners and if children get in the habit of having good manners from a young age, they will most likely have good manners their entire life. It’s hard to break manner habits as an adult so teach your kids young.

  1. Communication Skills

Children learn communication skills by watching yours. If you have good communication skills, they’ll pick up on it. Lead by example because your kids are always watching how you communicate with others.

  1. Listening Skills

Being a good listener is an essential skill as a friend, a parent and a spouse. Teach your child to be considerate of others and to listen to them. Being able to talk and converse is a great skill, but just as important is listening.

  1. Building Relationships

Life is not meant to endure alone. We want our children to have friends and relationships and mentors. Teaching how to form relationships from a young age will be something our children take with them for the rest of their lives.

  1. Empathy

Let’s teach our children how to feel empathy for others. We want them to be selfless and caring and to be there for their friends when they are going through a hard time. This is hard to teach because it usually comes naturally or it doesn’t but when you show empathy, your children pick up on it.

  1. Problem Solving

Life is full of situations where problem-solving skills are necessary and essential. Teach them not to panic in tough situations but to instead put on their thinking caps and come up with a solution. Problem-solving is important in every aspect of life.

  1. Self-Control

It’s so important to teach our kids about moderation and self-control from a young age. We do this by fostering good habits, encouraging responsibility, enforcing limits, teaching them to think before they act.

  1. Confidence

How we treat our children and how we talk to them will affect how they see themselves. If we encourage them and build them up, they will more likely grow up to love themselves. Teach them to be confident and believe in themselves.

Any of these skills can be taught partially by example. As parents, let’s try our best to take on these habits and express them positively to our children.

head lice treatment clinicians

Can Head Lice Treatments Be Harmful?

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If someone in your family contracts head lice, it’s highly recommended to seek treatment as soon as possible. It’s true that head lice don’t carry disease but it still needs to be taken care of to avoid a bigger outbreak and to avoid possible infections on the head from lice bites. Plus, head lice are gross and you’ll want them GONE. Make sure to get every member of your family checked, in case the infestation spread.

Effects Of Common Head Lice Treatments

Drugstore lice treatments are becoming less common because not only do they often fail to eradicate head lice and their eggs, they also have potentially harmful side effects. Over-the-counter head lice treatments contain pesticides, common ones including pyrethrin and permerthrin. They are usually the active ingredient in lice treatment shampoos and ointments. These pesticides often cause irritation to the scalp as well as rashes. They may also cause burning and allergic reactions. These side effects might be worth it if the treatments actually worked but more and more reports show that typical drugstore lice treatments are ineffective at treating head lice. Lice are much more resistant and strong than they once were. They have become immune to many chemicals and will survive through a lice shampoo treatment. The Pesticides in drugstore lice treatments can absorb into the scalp and large doses can be extremely harmful to children. Studies have linked abnormal behavior and early puberty in children to pyrethroids and other chemicals found in lice treatments. It really isn’t worth the risk. Especially when we offer a much better option.

AirAllé® Head Lice Treatment

head lice treatment clinicians

Our very best treatment option is our Signature AirAllé® treatment. It’s our most popular and effective option and we are confident that you will leave lice-free, without needing to return for any additional treatments. It’s a 3-step process including a 30-minute AirAllé®, a comb-out to remove dead lice and eggs and a topical rinse to get anything that may have survived the treatment. This treatment has a 99.9% efficacy rate and always impresses parents. we offer a 30-day service re-treatment policy* provided all family members have been checked for head lice in our clinic and treated as necessary. We offer a treatment guarantee and will treat you for free in the unlikely case that your treatment fails.

How It Works

The AirAllé® works by using warm, heated air to dehydrate lice and their eggs. The best part is that it doesn’t contain pyrethroids, pesticides or chemicals of any kind so you don’t have to put your child’s safety at risk. It is FDA-cleared, medically proven and will be the best decision you make when seeking ice treatment. Give us a call to learn more (508) 292-6761.

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