The other day when I picked up my son from school, I noticed something wasn’t right. All of the parents were huddled in small groups, each holding a letter and whispering to one another. I could sense the paper contained something of a grave matter because the expressions on everyone’s faces ranged from scared to confused to utter disbelief.

“What’s going on?” I asked cautiously.

“Read the note inside your folder,” said one mother, almost in tears.

As I read the note, I, too, wanted to cry. Here is what it said:

“Dear Parents,

A case of HEAD LICE has been reported in your child’s classroom…”

Lice???? In my child’s classroom???? The rest of the letter could have said that I won the lottery, but I never even noticed. I was too busy scratching my head and observing all of the parents secretly eying one another, trying to figure out which family was the guilty party.

Hmmm… Keira was absent the other day with “pink-eye.” Could it have been her? Joaquin was “out of town” on Wednesday. Could it be him? Mischa’s hair used remind me of Mariah Carey, but with her recent, drastic haircut she is looking more like Jim Carrey. Could it be her?

So, what’s the deal with those little suckers (and I do mean that literally) called lice? Most dictionaries will tell you lice are blood-sucking parasites, but we all know the real definition: “Lice—loathsome creatures whose sole purpose is to wreak havoc on people’s lives and cause pandemonium in all public and private settings, with an eventual goal to take over the world.”

I decided to ask two experts what to do if a family member gets lice. I spoke with Buffalo Grove resident, Richard Pervos MD of Sanders Court Pediatrics, located in Northbrook and Arlington Heights and with Nancy Adinolfi, R.N., school nurse at Buffalo Grove’s Ivy Hall Elementary School.

“Anyone can get lice at any time of year,” notes Nurse Adinolfi. “In fact, the cleanest hair is the most attractive to lice because they can’t stick to dirty hair.”

Adinolfi adds that although a school might discover a child has lice, the lice could have been spread from somewhere else. “Sleepover parties, places that have dress-up clothes, friend’s houses, shared brushes and hair accessories, piling coats on top of one another, hotels, movie theaters, etc. are all places that lice can spread.”

Once lice is found in the hair, “we recommend manual removal combined with at-home remedies,” says Dr. Pervos. “Many of the over-the-counter medicines are not working lately because the lice are getting immune to them.” Pervos states the following process “is almost 100 percent effective without putting dangerous chemicals on your child’s head.”

“First, you should comb vinegar through the hair with a nit comb and then use the nit comb to comb through every single hair. Try to do this a few times. Then rinse off the vinegar so the scalp doesn’t burn. Coat the hair with olive oil because if you missed an egg and it hatches, it can’t attach to the scalp and it dies. Put on a shower cap before bedtime so the olive oil doesn’t go through your pillowcases and sheets. Rinse off with shampoo in the morning. Repeat for the next 3-5 nights.”

“Lice are very contagious,” stresses Dr. Pervos. “But people have to remember that they are just a nuisance. It doesn’t cause any sort of diseases, so take a deep breath and go about your business. With a little hard work, it’s all resolved in a few days.”

Nurse Adinolfi advises that if an outbreak occurs at your child’s school, check your child’s hair daily for the next week. She also strongly urges people never to put over-the-counter treatment on a person’s hair as a preventative measure because the treatments are actually pesticides.

Both Dr. Pervos and Nurse Adinolfi say that if you have a question regarding head lice you should call the school nurse or your child’s pediatrician. They can tell you what to look for and calm your nerves at the same time.

If you can handle it, you may also want to look at this informative website about our little parasite friends: http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/infections/common/lice.html. The site offers information and tips and has interesting facts such as your pet cannot get lice or spread lice.

Now be honest, how many times did you scratch your head while reading this column?

Have a wonderful, scratch-free, lice-free Valentine’s Day! Please email me with ideas for future columns at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

© 2007 Susan Dubin, Buffalo Grove, Illinois