Head lice are one of the most terrifying conditions that affect millions of people every year, mostly children. As a parent when you see your child scratching irately their scalp, you do get worried about what is going on, what problem they are facing and more often than not you assume head lice.
But how do identify if that is the truth. Ascertaining head lice can be a bit complex task but by following right steps, as explained below, you can easily identify if your child is suffering from head lice or not:
1. Stay Calm
Whenever any parent see their child in any discomfort they panic and start worrying so much that could make the matter worse. You need to stay calm and react rationally and not emotionally.
2. Talk to Them
The first step is to talk to your child asking them what is bothering. Is it any kind of injury they might have suffered or anything else? Also find out for how much time they are feeling this constant itching.
3. Spot the Symptoms
As head lice and their eggs are too small, identifying can be a bit of a trouble at first. But as an aware parent you must take notice of change in behavior of your child. If they are repeatedly scratching their scalp, neck, area around the ear and the temples, then it shows a sign of infestation. Also, if you have received a warning from your child’s school, then it may be time for you to take this seriously.
4. Inspect the Hair and Scalp
After you are almost certain that head lice are what bothering your child, it is time to go through a detailed scrutiny:
- Use a head lice comb to scour through the hair by putting the child under good lighting. This will help you to see and identify adult lice. Make sure to focus on the hair base, moist and dry areas like temples, around the ears and neck.
- Spotting lice eggs can be little more daunting and you would need concentrated lighting to check for them. There are living nits and dead nits and the living one will be found in the scalp and the dead ones away from the scalp. As examining and finding eggs is tough challenges for the parents and they may not be able to detect the eggs easily and completely, a better solution is to take them to a head lice removal salon, where the experts are equipped with tools, techniques and have experience in finding and treating head lice eggs and adult lice as well.