Lice Treatments: Why Do They Fail, and What Really Works?

Have you ever struggled to get rid of head lice?  It should be simple, right? There are a plethora of products on the shelves at your local pharmacy and big box stores all promising to kill lice and eggs.  There are countless home remedies that people swear have worked for them, and there are even prescription lice medications. A prescription would HAVE to work, wouldn’t it?!  Yet so many people find themselves trying each and every one of those treatments, only to continue fighting lice for weeks, if not months. Why? The answer will likely surprise you in it’s simplicity, and anger you all at the same time.

When you have a lice infestation there are two things you’re dealing with, live lice, and lice eggs.  Despite claims, there are no OTC products, home remedies, or prescription medications that will kill lice eggs.  (The ONLY treatment proven to kill lice eggs is the AirAlle™).  The only thing OTC treatments, prescription treatments, or home remedies are able to do is kill the live lice that are in your hair at the time of application.  Maybe.

The “maybe” stems from the fact that most lice treatment products and home remedies are ineffective.  Pyrethroids such as permethrin and pyrethrin (the active ingredients in Rid, Nix and store brand lice shampoos) are now estimated to be only 27% effective at killing lice; lice have built up a resistance to these pesticides.  Pesticide-resistant lice are commonly referred to as Super Lice.  Sodium chloride-based products such as LiceFreee and Vamousse are estimated to be 50-54% effective at killing live lice. Home remedies including mayonnaise, olive oil, and Cetaphil have not been clinically trialed, but are typically ineffective due to not only the mess involved, but the time these products must be left in the hair.  Lice are able to survive for hours underneath these substances. Prescription medications have a better efficacy rate, roughly 70-80%, but aren’t foolproof. So using a product that isn’t 100% effective at killing live lice to begin with means there’s a chance a louse will survive and continue to lay eggs, and that’s where the second problem lies.

Let’s say for sake of argument the OTC treatment or home remedy you’ve used truly does what it’s supposed to do, it kills the live lice in your hair at the time of application.  Now it’s time to comb. The nit combs that come in most OTC kits are poorly designed and ineffective at removing eggs. On top of that, eggs are difficult to see and just as difficult to remove.  Lice eggs are brownish-gray in color and cemented to the hair shaft ~⅛”to ¼” from the scalp. If you’ve spent hours combing out the white eggs, those aren’t actually viable eggs; those are empty egg casings (nits).  Removing empty egg casings will have no effect on ending a head lice infestation.

Regardless of your success, or lack thereof, in combing your job is not done.  Now you must wait. According to the directions on most OTC treatments you must wait 7 days.  What you are waiting for is for the eggs you’ve missed to hatch. You then reapply the OTC treatment or home remedy and kill the lice that have emerged from any missed eggs.  Seems clear enough, right? BUT… lice eggs can incubate for up to 10 days. So if you apply an OTC lice treatment or home remedy on a Sunday, comb eggs as best you can, then reapply that product or home remedy on the following Sunday… all it takes is a few remaining eggs in the hair to hatch on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday and the infestation begins all over again.  To make matters worse, if a female louse survives your initial application of lice treatment product, prescription or home remedy, and continues to lay new eggs, all bets are off. What was initially supposed to be a 10-day incubation period could now be extended indefinitely.

So what’s the answer?  If waiting 10 days to end a lice infestation sounds like your idea of agony, the AirAlle™ is the solution.  The AirAlle™ is the only FDA-cleared medical device clinically proven to end a lice infestation in a single treatment because it uses heated air to desiccate lice eggs.  By desiccating, or dehydrating, the eggs, you no longer have to wait out the 10-day incubation period. The eggs are, in essence, dead, and lice is gone in about an hour.

If you don’t mind doing the work yourself, Lice Lessons 1+5+5 Oil Treatment (dimethicone) will allow you to end a lice infestation in 10 days.  Dimethicone is ~99% effective at killing live lice.  We know lice eggs can incubate for up to 10 days, and that lice take 10 days to reach maturity.  It’s on day 11 that a female louse can mate and begin to lay eggs; we have to prevent the female louse from reaching that point.  Three 30-minute applications of Lice Lessons 1+5+5 Oil Treatment spaced over the 10-day incubation period are all that’s necessary to end a lice infestation.  

If you need a Full-Service Treatment or would like to purchase Lice Lessons 1+5+5 Oil Treatment, don’t hesitate to contact us. At Lice Clinics of America – Fox Cities & Central Wisconsin, with clinics in Stevens Point and Appleton, we proudly serve Central WI, Wausau, Marshfield, the Fox Cities, Fond du Lac and all surrounding areas! Our heated removal process guarantees to remove head lice in 1 quick and safe treatment! Let your kids and family members get back to the things they enjoy! Contact Lice Clinics of America – Central WI by visiting http://liceclinicscentralwi.com, emailing info@LiceClinicsCentralWI.com, or calling (715) 570-4887.