Lice Clinics of America® – Northern IL Shares Head Lice Safety Tips for National Safety Month

This June, the National Safety Council is sponsoring National Safety Month, a public awareness campaign to promote “reducing the leading causes of injury and death at work, on the road, and in our homes and communities.”

Lice Clinics of America – Spring Grove and Vernon Hills is taking this opportunity to call attention to safe head lice treatment.

“There are two safety issues to consider when it comes to head lice,” says Nick Hawn, owner of Lice Clinics of America – Spring Grove and Vernon Hills. “First, it’s important to understand how to avoid getting head lice in the first place. Second, people need to know that some over the counter lice products and many home remedies are risky and dangerous, not to mention ineffective.”

“Head lice alone don’t really pose and health risks as they do not cause disease or infection,” Hawn said. They’re a nuisance more than anything else, but of course no one wants bugs in their hair. The best way to prevent head lice is to avoid head-to-head contact. This can be tough to get children to do which is why most infestation start with children; adults aren’t likely to have such close contact with anybody but their own kids/family.

Then there’s the alleged cures for head lice that are often worse than the condition they are supposed to treat.

“Many parents (including myself when we experienced head lice, which prompted us to open our clinics) don’t realize that the active ingredients in over-the-counter head lice treatment products are toxic pesticides, some of which have been banned agriculturally in the US,” Hawn said. The most popular products use pyrethroids, a class of home and garden pesticides that have studies have linked to behavioral and developmental problems in children.

“What makes things even worse is that the products are mostly ineffective now because lice have built resistance to pyrethroids so the benefit of using them just does not outweigh the risk,” Hawn said.

Home lice treatment “remedies” can also be dangerous, even deadly. Some internet sites recommend using kerosene to remove head lice, which is highly flammable—there have been multiple cases of severe burns from the practice. Mayonnaise is another popular home remedy for lice treatment. In 2016, a toddler suffocated when a plastic bag slipped over her face—the bag had been placed on her head to contain the mayonnaise.

Lice Clinics of America – Spring Grove and Vernon Hills provides head lice removal using a pesticide-free, FDA-cleared medical device known as AirAllé®. The device uses heated air to dehydrate lice and eggs in a matter of minutes. In clinical trials, AirAllé killed live lice and more than 98 percent of eggs. The device has been used to treat more than 1 million cases of head lice with a success rate better than 99 percent.

Best of all, a single treatment only takes about an hour and is guaranteed to be effective. “When you come to our clinic with a case of head lice, you’ll leave lice-free in about an hour with no follow-up required and no toxic pesticides,” Hawn said.

Lice Clinics of America also makes a line of safe, pesticide-free, guaranteed home products for people that prefer home treatment. There’s no reason to expose yourself or your children to dangerous products or practices.

“People often panic when they first discover head lice in their families,” Hawn said, “And sometimes desperation causes them to try things that are not safe, we have heard it all! We want everyone to know that we make dealing with head lice fast, safe and easy. Relax, we got this!”

Lice Clinics of America – Spring Grove is located at 2503 Spring Ridge Rd, Suite C1, Spring Grove, IL 60081and Lice Clinics of America – Vernon Hills is located at 10 W Phillip Rd, Suite 123, Vernon Hills, IL 60061. Both locations are open seven days a week by appointment. Call (815)581-0075 or email Info@LiceClinicsNorthernIL.com for more information or to schedule an appointment.