Let’s Prevent!

For any of you that have read my past blogs you know the reason I got into this business is because of our battle with lice and summer camp. Every year my twins get the amazing experience of two weeks on the Texas coast surfing and sailing. That’s great right….. Well every year they came back with head lice. That I fought for weeks on end! We all know the routine, over the counter pesticides, hours of combing and the inevitable trip to the pediatrician. Here is the problem…..

Summer camps are often in remote locations and have limited access to medical resources. About 30 percent were said to have “no nit” policies, meaning that if a camper has head lice, he or she will be sent home.

According to the American Camp Association (ACA), “Every year, one of the most common calls to the ACA Camp Crisis Hotline comes from camps who have questions about lice. Either they have detected head lice on a camper’s or staffer’s head, or they are preparing for an infestation.

In a 2016 study, researchers from the University of Michigan Mott Children’s Hospital tracked lice infestations in more than 500 summer camps over a three-year period and followed up with a questionnaire to camp leaders. Some 69 percent of camp leaders surveyed said lice were a significant challenge faced by camp staff and parents.

Why are lice common at camps? Well, for the same reason head lice are common wherever young people gather. It’s an opportunity for head-to-head contact and lots of sharing of clothes, brushes, combs, and the like—the primary ways head lice spread.

How to Prevent Lice at Summer Camp?

New preventative products can help you reduce the odds that your child will contract head lice at camp. Lice Clinics of America, the company that has introduced the breakthrough AirAllé medical device, offers preventative sprays, conditioners, and shampoos formulated to deter head lice. The preventative hair products contain scents that smell perfectly fine to humans but irritate a louse’s olfactory senses (and thus repel the lice).

Many camps contract with Lice Clinics of America to screen and treat campers with the FDA-cleared AirAllé device (which uses warm air to dehydrate and kill live lice and eggs). Bring your child in before camp, let our trained technicians give you the peace of mind that your child is clear.