Head Lice Terrorizing Moms Across the US
The anxiety level of parents across the country with regard to head lice is at an all-time high as the incidence of lice increases among children.
Online, October 7, 2010 (Newswire.com) - What is about lice that makes even the most even-keeled person feel panicky? Many people upon finding out that they have lice feel like one of their worst fears has come to fruition. Is it because of the "ick" factor and related bug-aversion? Is it because of the stigma and concern that their children will be ostracized? Is it guilt as some parents think that they somehow should have found it earlier?
Experts agree that all of these factors come into play in varying degrees. Parents become very upset at the thought of bugs crawling around in their childrens' heads. While these bugs do not carry disease, there is a visceral response to the concept that bugs are residing on the heads in their families. In addition, parents worry that their child will be ostracized by his or her peers. In fact, with the incidence of lice so high, many students have come to accept lice as part of today's society; they may get it or not.
Parents also feel that they are somehow negligent because they did not identify the case until it is advanced. The reality is that many children do not feel itchy and the nits are very small so it is unlikely that even the most vigilent parent will identify a case early. According to LiceDoctors, a professional lice removal service with several locations across the country, the lice hide from the light and the nits camouflage so unless a child is overtly scratching her head, it is very difficult for a parent to uncover a case early on. With the growing resistance of lice to the pesticide shampoos, the severity of lice cases is greater than ever.
LiceDoctors observes that normally calm parents enter a stage of extreme frustration as they try to get rid of the bugs and nits, but can't seem to find an end to the case. Conscientious parents spend hours, days even, combing their kids' hair while their kids sit unhappily waiting for this onerous process to be finished. Just when they think that there can't possibly be anything left in the head, a bug walks out. The reason that parents have such a hard time eradicating lice is that even if you leave a single nits in the hair (and recently laid nits are very tiny), the parent has not eradicted the case. It takes time, effort, good eyesight, and patient parents and children for a family to eradicte the case on their own. For many families the best option is to bring a lice professional so that the panicky feelings can disappear....along with the lice.