Could Sports Season=Lice Season?
Fort Collins Lice Removal Expert Trains Sports Parents on Lice Prevention
FORT COLLINS, CO—Back to school means back to sports, which often means close contact with teammates’ helmets, towels and uniforms. And when kids share gear, they also share everything from sweat to bacteria to that stubborn bane of parents everywhere, head lice.
As in sports, the best offense is often a good defense. The same applies to lice treatment, says Tanya Kensley, a lice treatment expert in Northern Colorado. The most important step is to ensure kids use only their own equipment, especially those pieces that involve direct contact with the head, she says.
“Whenever possible, have your child wear a personal helmet, or a bandana or some kind of nylon head cover to create a barrier between the hair and the helmet,” says Kensley, owner of Lice Clinics of America—Fort Collins, a full service lice treatment center serving Northern Colorado and Southern Wyoming.
Kensley also recommends doing monthly checks using a professional lice comb and a preventative spray to ensure your child stays lice-free throughout the season. Consider it training—for parents.
When those same anxious parents come to her clinic, Kensley sits down with them, urges them to breathe, and figure out where the lice came from. It’s not always easy.
“I’ve heard from several parents that they can’t think of any place their child got lice except for wearing shared helmet, such as softball, baseball, hockey, football, or even horseback riding,” Kensley says.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lice are spread most commonly via head-to-head contact with a person who already has them.But kids are kids, especially inside locker rooms and gyms, so this can easily extend to sharing items such as hats, scarves, and hair ribbons as the season wears on.
“A louse will live between 15 and 24 hours off a human head. So if your child has been infected with lice, it’s important to know that their equipment can still be a vector. The best thing to do is just put all their gear in a sealed trash bag for 48 hours. Without a human host for two days, lice will die.”
That way, kids can keep their lice-free heads in the game all season, and parents can relax and enjoy the show.
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