After treatment, your skin may still itch for a week or more. This is because of your body's reaction to the lice. Follow-up care is a key part of your treatment and safety.
One of the most common sources of your head still itching after lice treatment is from a dry or irritated scalp from treatment. All over-the-counter lice treatments contain a variety of irritants – from chemicals to salt-based compounds – that cause irritation and drying on the scalp.
Comb dead and any remaining live lice out of the hair using a fine–toothed nit comb. If, after 8–12 hours of treatment, no dead lice are found and lice seem as active as before, the medicine may not be working.
The head lice may have become resistant to the treatment. If the treatment used does not kill the head lice, your health care provider and pharmacist can help you be sure the treatment was used correctly and may recommend a completely different product if they think the head lice are resistant to the first treatment.
Repeat treatment every day or every other day for 2 weeks. Some lice eggs (nits) survive head lice treatments. The only way to be sure that lice won't come back is to pick out all nits. Nits left on the hair can hatch and cause a new case of head lice.
Lice can be tricky to get rid of because nits can remain unhatched on your head or you might pick up lice that are still on bedding or other items. Here's what to do if you've had lice — or someone in your family has: Wash bed linens and clothing that anyone with lice has used recently.
Many lice medicines recommend a second treatment in 9 to 10 days. This will kill any new nymphs that have hatched since the first treatment. Do not treat a person more than 2 times with the same medicine without talking to your doctor. Do not use conditioner for 10 days after any treatment.
Typically, 10–15 head lice are found. The number of lice often depends on personal hygiene, for example, how often the person bathes, shampoos, or changes and washes his/her clothing.
After the first treatment, when the egg-laying lice are eliminated, you are no longer contagious. To stop the cycle of lice you must stop the egg laying first, then remove the nits. Timing is everything and you must complete the 3 well-timed treatments to ensure you are lice-free.
One treatment with Nix kills all the lice. Nits (lice eggs) do not spread lice. Most treated nits (lice eggs) are dead after the first treatment with Nix. The others will be killed with the 2nd treatment.
Generally, if no live crawling insects are seen three weeks after the treatment, it's safe to assume that they are gone. Nits would have hatched by that time if they were alive. Nits and their shells may remain in the hair for some time but won't be viable.
Infestation timeline
So if you look on the scalp and see no visible adult lice and several small nits, it's likely that you've caught lice in the earlier stages and had them for less than 2 weeks. Nits and nymphs: 1.5 to 2 weeks. If you see nits and small, moving lice, you've likely had lice for 1.5 to 2 weeks.
Therefore, an appropriately timed second treatment is usually necessary to kill nymphs after they hatch but before they become adult lice. Some studies suggest that re-treating 7 to 9 days after the first treatment is the ideal time for a second treatment, but other re-treatment schedules exist.
Nits are often confused with other things found in the hair such as dandruff, hair spray droplets, and dirt particles. If no live nymphs or adult lice are seen, and the only nits found are more than ¼-inch from the scalp, the infestation is probably old and no longer active and does not need to be treated.
Adult lice can't live longer than 24 hours or so on nonhuman surfaces like carpets, hardwood floors, clothing, furniture, sports helmets, headphones, or hair accessories. However, if you have identified lice in your home, isolate and wash those items and areas within at least 72 hours.
The peak season for lice infestation is August through October and again in January. Head lice are tiny parasitic insects that feed on human blood. Lice come in three forms: nits (eggs), nymphs (baby lice), and adults. Nits are white or yellowish-brown and about the size of a poppy seed.
The life cycle of the head louse has three stages: egg, nymph, and adult. . They are 0.8 mm by 0.3 mm, oval and usually yellow to white. Nits take about 1 week to hatch (range 6 to 9 days).
Shaving Will Not Get Rid of Lice.
The reason shaving will not work is because lice live on the base of the hair, and on the scalp. The nits are laid right at the base of the hair oftentimes against the scalp. Shaving will not get close enough to make an impact on the lice and nits.
There are two reasons for a recurrent lice infestation: The lice treatment you used didn't work. You or someone in your family came in contact with lice again.
Ivermectin (Sklice).
This lotion kills most head lice, even just-hatched lice, with just one use. You don't need to comb out lice eggs (nits). Children ages 6 months and older can use this product.
If you do not comb out all the remaining nits, they will hatch and restart the cycle in 7-10 days from that point. That's why we recommend 3 treatments over a 12-day period of time. This stops the life cycle of lice. These are nits at different stages and a louse.
Cover all of the hair with conditioner, detangle hair with normal comb and separate into sections. Then, using a fine long toothed metal lice comb, comb through the hair in sections. The conditioner does not kill lice but stuns them for about 20 minutes enabling easier removal.
How often to do comb-outs. Do a comb-out for everyone who has an active infestation every day or two until you've seen no live lice in the hair for about two weeks. The first combing should get rid of most of the lice.
As head lice can live on pillows, you'll need to clean them. Adult lice can only survive for two days without a host. However, they can still lay eggs. If the infected person has had a lice treatment and then picks up stray lice from their pillow, the lice infestation cycle can start all over again.