Spring Break Head Lice Prevention Tips from Lice Clinics of America – College Station, Tomball, and The Woodlands

School breaks—summer, winter, and spring—are peak lice times as kids spend more unstructured time together. “We see it every year,” said Sonia Watt, owner of two Lice Clinics of America clinics in College Station, Tomball, and The Woodlands. “Our phones start ringing after every break because kids go back to school with head lice.”

Watt has some tips for head lice prevention and treatment to keep lice out of your life or to eradicate them as quickly as possible.

“One thing we always recommend is that you get a professional screening before your child returns to school,” Watt said. “Head lice can be very difficult to correctly diagnose, and we find that parents either mistake dandruff for head lice or think actual head lice are just dandruff.”

The College Station, Tomball, and The Woodlands clinics offer professional screenings for a modest fee, which is waived if live lice are found and treatment is scheduled.

“We also carry a complete line of lice prevention products that are guaranteed to be effective when used properly,” Watt said. “They’re completely nontoxic and a great way to prevent head lice during school breaks.” Preventive products include shampoos, conditioners, and sprays that can be used daily or when exposure to head lice is likely.

“It’s also important to be educated about head lice to avoid unnecessary risks,” Watt said. “Head lice spread mainly through head-to-head contact—they don’t jump or fly but they can scramble from one head to another in a matter of seconds.”

Parents can reduce exposure to head lice infestations by keeping children’s hair short or pulled tight, and by checking for head lice after high contact situations like sleepovers or shared

vacation rooms. Early detection can make treatment easier and ensure that head lice don’t spread to other family members.

Watt has good news for parents that are confronted with lice after spring break or at any other time. “Head lice don’t have to be nightmare,” she said. “Come to our clinic and you can be lice free in an hour, guaranteed.”

 

That’s no “snake oil” pitch. It’s an FDA-cleared, clinically proven fact. Lice Clinics of America in College Station, Tomball, and The Woodlands are the area’s exclusive provider of head lice treatment using the AirAllé® medical device. Developed by researchers at the University of Utah, AirAllé kills lice and eggs through dehydration using carefully controlled heated air. In clinical trials, it killed live lice and more than 99 percent of eggs. Treatments take about an hour and are guaranteed to be effective.

Traditional lice treatments require multiple applications and tedious nitpicking to remove eggs. Lice have developed resistance to the pesticides traditional products use, and it is not uncommon for families to struggle with head lice for weeks or months at a time.

“We want families to be lice-free after spring break and all year round,” Watt said. “But if you do get head lice, we’re here to make getting rid of them easy.”

With 330 clinics in 35 countries, Lice Clinics of America is the world’s largest network of professional lice treatment centers. AirAllé device has treated more than 950,000 cases of head lice around the world with a success rate better than 99 percent.

To learn more or to schedule an appointment, visit https://texasliceremovalclinic.com, email info@texasliceremovalclinic.com, or call College Station (855) 464-8688, Tomball (832) 648-1619, or The Woodlands (832) 957-0373.

Lice Clinics of America® in Tomball, College Station, and The Woodlands Reports Local Lice Infestations

Lice Clinics of America in Tomball, College Station, and The Woodlands reported that their clinics have seen an increased number of cases of lice infestations in multiple neighborhoods in Tomball, College Station, and The Woodlands.

“If you have school-age children where lice infestations have been reported, it’s important to take some immediate steps to either prevent your children from getting head lice, or to properly treat and kill the lice before they spread to others among your family and schoolmates,” said Sonia Watt, owner of the Tomball, College Station, and The Woodlands clinics.

“Lice are not life-threatening, and they don’t cause any illness, but they are highly contagious and difficult to eliminate with traditional treatments,” Watt said. “According to the CDC, head-to-head contact with an already infested person is the most common way to get head lice. Head-to-head contact is more common among children than adults as kids play at school, at home, in sports activities, playgrounds, and sleepovers.”

“No parent wants to deal with head lice, but there really isn’t any reason to panic or to be embarrassed,” Watt said. “Head lice have nothing to do with personal hygiene or home cleanliness.” Watt recommends the following to make sure lice aren’t living in your child’s hair:

  1. Inspect your child’s head, especially if your child has an itchy scalp. Look for eggs, nymphs and adult lice. One female adult louse can lay about 100 eggs during her life span. That’s a lot of new lice.
  2. Call the parents of your child’s friends and have them check for head lice, remembering that early intervention can help to reduce the infestation level.
  3. If you see lice—or if you are unsure whether you have lice—visit a professional lice treatment center, such as Lice Clinics of America, for a reliable screening.
  4. Traditional over-the-counter treatments contain pesticides that are no longer effective. Lice have evolved into “super lice” and have developed resistance to those pesticides. Find a treatment that is safe and effective. Lice Clinics of America offers a number of options.
  5. Be safe this season by starting your child on a lice prevention regimen using trusted lice prevention products such as shampoos, conditioners, sprays and hair bands that will help to keep lice away from your child’s scalp.

With more than 350 clinics in 36 countries, Lice Clinics of America is the world’s number-one service brand for treating head lice. The company’s revolutionary AirAllé® medical device is FDA-cleared and uses heated-air to dehydrate lice and eggs and is guaranteed to kill lice, lice eggs and super lice in a single, one-hour treatment.

“Worldwide, the AirAllé has successfully treated nearly half a million cases of head lice with a success rate better than 99 percent,” Watt said. “It is fast, safe, and guaranteed to be effective.”

Lice Clinics of America also offers professional lice screenings and a full line of top-rated lice prevention products. All products and treatments are pesticide-free.

To learn more or to schedule an appointment, visit https://texasliceremovalclinic.com, email info@texasliceremovalclinic.com, or call (855) 464-8688 for College Station or (832) 648-1619 for Tomball.

American Academy of Pediatrics Updates Head Lice Guidance

American Academy of Pediatricians Updates Head Lice Guidance

 

In 2015 the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) updated its guidance on head lice treatment as new products were introduced after the academy’s 2010 report.  The new report was published in the journal Pediatrics, and it highlights some exciting new developments in the battle against head lice.

“Head lice infestation is associated with limited morbidity but causes a high level of anxiety among parents of school-aged children,” the report says. “Since the 2010 clinical report on head lice was published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, newer medications have been approved for the treatment of head lice. This revised clinical report clarifies current diagnosis and treatment protocols and provides guidance for the management of children with head lice in the school setting.”

The AAP recognizes that head lice in the United States have developed resistance to the most popular over-the-counter lice products (pediculicides). As a by-product of this resistance, some parents have over-applied the medications, hoping that using more of the products would make them more successful. The AAP warns against this, saying, “the potential for misdiagnosis and the resulting improper use of pediculicides and the emergence of resistance to both available and newer products, many without proof of efficacy or safety, call for increased physician involvement in the diagnosis and treatment.”

“The prevalence of resistance has not been systematically studied but seems to be highly variable from community to community and country to country.” In fact, the most recent study released shows 100 percent of lice in 42 states are resistant to the active ingredients in over-the-counter lice products.

“The ideal treatment of lice should be safe, free of toxic chemicals, readily available without a prescription, easy to use, effective, and inexpensive,” the report says.  The article notes that the overall spending on lice treatment has risen to nearly $1 billion annually, with as many as 12 million children contracting head lice each year.

AAP lists the AirAllé® as effective lice treatment device

For the first time, the AAP lists the AirAllé® medical device as an effective lice treatment device. “The AirAllé® (Larada Sciences, Salt Lake City, UT) device is a custom-built machine that uses one 30-minute application of hot air in an attempt to desiccate the lice. One study showed that subjects had nearly 100% mortality of eggs and 80% mortality of hatched lice.”

The AirAllé® device is the only treatment option listed in the AAP report that uses heated air. A clinical trial showed that the FDA-cleared medical device killed live lice and 99.2 percent of eggs. It uses nothing but heated air, carefully controlled and applied, to dehydrate lice and eggs. There are no chemicals involved and no nitpicking is required.

Lice treatment using the AirAllé® medical device is available exclusively at Lice Clinics of America treatment centers, where certified staff use the device to remove live lice and eggs. The process takes from 30-90 minutes, depending on the extent of the infestation and the length of the hair. Most clinics guarantee success as long as all household members are checked for head lice prior to treatment.

Lice Clinics of America has quickly become the largest network of professional lice treatment centers in the world. Some 180 clinics have opened in the United States to date with approximately 300 clinics worldwide.

College Station

4444 Carter Creek Parkway – Suite 101, Bryan, TX 77802

Call today for an appointment!

(855) 464-8668

 

Tomball

11601 Spring Cypress, Suite C, Tomball, TX 77377

Call today for an appointment!

(832) 639-2944

To learn more or to find a clinic near you, visit www.liceclinicsofamerica.com.

coconut-oil

Treating Lice With Coconut Oil

Over-the-counter treatments are no good and our AirAllé® treatment is the best lice treatment on the market. Coconut oil is somewhere in between. When combined with anise spray, it works about 41% of the time, according to a clinical study. OTC treatments are successful about 23 percent of the time. Our AirAllé treatment is successful 99.9 percent of the time and we’ll re-treat you for free within 30 days if there are any problems.

Many studies have proved that super lice have led to a decline in the effectiveness of store-bought lice treatments, especially in the last few years. Over time, head lice have built up an immunity to chemicals that used to easily kill lice. They can stay alive while drenched in chemicals for a long period of time. This makes lice treatment more frustrating than in past years.

Coconut Oil Compared To Other Home Remedies

Coconut oil works in a similar way to mayonnaise or tea tree oil but is safer. Coconut oil must be combined with anise oil in order to be successful at all, which makes it more effective than other home remedies. Mayonnaise and tea tree oil can be harmful. Coconut oil is actually good for you and provides many beneficial nutrients. It’s good for your hair, skin and scalp.

Coconut oil mixed with anise oil may be much more effective than OTC lice treatments such and Rid or Nix, but it is still not comparable to our AirAllé lice treatment. Theirs is no replacement for that.

Coconut oil may seem like the less expensive option, but if it doesn’t wind up working, you’re going to have to come to us anyways, which is often the case for the patients we treat. Don’t waste your time using something that MIGHT work. Instead, come into our clinic for a treatment that DOES work, performed by some experts.

positive-discipline

Positive Discipline Starts With The Parents- Part 2

In our last blog post, we gave our first three steps to practicing positive discipline. In this post, we explore four more ways to discipline children effectively.

1. Give Attention To Good Behavior, Not Bad Behavior

Children often act out to get attention. Sometimes, it pays to ignore your child when he/she acts out. Ignore the behaviors you don’t want to see more of and give attention to the behaviors you want them to display more often. Katharine C. Kersey, the author of “The 101s: A Guide to Positive Discipline,” calls this the “Rain on the grass, not on the weeds” principle. In the midst of tantrums or whining, play deaf or walk away and your child will soon learn that those behaviors don’t catch your attention. This is a way to practice positive discipline and teach your children to communicate better.

2. Redirect

Instead of trying to stop bad behavior, try redirecting your child’s attention to good behavior. Kids who constantly hear “no” or “don’t” tend to eventually tune those directives out. So instead of telling your child what not to do, Kersey recommends instead, offering a positive behavior to replace the misbehavior. For instance, a child acting up in a grocery store could be redirected to helping pick out grocery items. A child running around a swimming pool might be challenged to walk “as if on marshmallows.” Be creative with your children.

3. Exploit the “energy drain”

Any parent who has dealt with a tantrum or a whining child knows that parenting can be exhausting. Fay calls this the “energy drain” and says you can use it to your advantage. For instance, you might defuse a sibling confrontation by saying, “wow, you need to take that fight with your brother somewhere else, because listening to that could cause me a big energy drain and I don’t think I’ll have the energy to take you to get dessert after dinner.” What will your child care more about, getting ice cream after dinner or fighting with their sibling?

4. Stay Away From Bribing

Sometimes bribing seems like the easiest option in a moment of desperation, but is not the best long-term solution for your children. Fay warns that bribing sends the wrong message. What kids hear when we offer a reward for good behavior is “you don’t want to be very good and you have to be paid off,” says Fay.

The most important rearward to give your child is quality time. That should be freely given. Children need us and they need our undivided attention at times. Fay recommends spending AT LEAST 15 minutes of one-on-one time with your children a day. It’s very important for children to know they are loved and to hear it often. Love is the best medicine.

discipline

Positive Discipline Starts with The Parents- Part 1

Some parents are lucky enough to have angel children who never misbehave but the majority of us have to sometimes put up with thrown toys, screams and slammed doors in our faces. The way we handle these situations, behave ourselves and discipline our children really matters. Here are some tips that we’ve gathered from a few experts.

Understand The Meaning Behind The Behavior

As parents, it’s our job to be selfless and to be cognitive of what’s going on with our children. Taking the time to really know our children gives us the opportunity to understand why they are acting certain ways. Naomi Aldort, the author of “Raising our Children, Raising Ourselves,” says that children are born wanting to behave well. If they seem to miss the mark, there’s a valid reason for it. “The most important [thing] is to realize that whatever a child does, we may label as bad, [but really] the child is doing the best he can. It’s our job as parents to find out why [he is] doing it,” says Aldort. “Once we know the valid root of the behavior, we can easily remove the cause or heal the emotions, and the child won’t be driven to behave in that way anymore.”

Ask yourself if your child is acting out for a certain reason. Have they been getting enough attention? Are they acting out to be noticed? Is there a certain correction you can make to your own behavior that might positively affect your child? “A lot of what we expect of children is unreasonable,” says Aldort.

Be Willing To Adjust Your Own Behavior

Our children pick up on our behaviors. It’s often hard to keep calm in the heat pf the moment but how we react to situations is often how our children will grow up to react to situations. Dr. Katharine Kersey, author of “The 101s: A Guide To Positive Discipline,” says that parents need to model the types of behavior they want their kids to emulate. Leading by example is very powerful. ” We should not do anything in front of [our children] that we don’t want them to do,” she says.

Be Consistent

Consistency is everything in parenting. Being consistency is very healthy for our children. Aldort says that parents often overlook certain behaviors and hope it will pass. That is a lazy perspective. It will not pass. If your child bites another child, for instance, hold their hand and them their behavior was unacceptable. If they continue, it’s time to remove them from the situation and handle it.

Sometimes a child might try to test the limits by arguing with the rules. When this happens, Fay suggests neutralizing negotiations by repeating one simple mantra as often as necessary: “I love you too much to argue.”

Let’s all strive to understand our children, exemplify positive behavior and be consistent in with our parenting styles and discipline patterns. Stay tuned for part 2 with even more advice on utilizing positive discipline in the home.

Tomball

New Location In Tomball, Texas

Tomball In A Nutshell

Are you a native of Tomball? Tomball is a city in Harris County in the state of Texas and is part of the Houston metropolitan area. With an estimated population of 10,753, Tomball is a suburb of Houston and it’s a wonderful small town to raise a family. Many families reside in the Tomball area. If you are a parent of young children, you may have to deal with head lice in the near future. That’s where we come in. We are experts of head lice and we now offer safe and effective lice treatment at our new clinic in Tomball, Texas to make it even more convenient for our wonderful Tomball neighbors. Our original location is in College Station and we continue to operate both locations.

Our AirAllé® Lice Treatment

We hope there is not a head lice outbreak at your child’s school anytime soon but if there is, there’s a big chance your son or daughter will come home with lice so it’s important to be prepared. We encourage parents to know a little bit about head lice, such as how it spreads and how to treat it. We offer treatments using our revolutionary and guaranteed lice treatment with our Airalle device. It was invented at the University of Utah and uses controlled, heated air in a pattern to dehydrate head lice and eggs, even when you can’t see them. It will work no matter how resistant lice become to chemicals and pesticides because we don’t use any! That means it’s not only effective but also safe! Don’t use drugstore lice shampoos because they simply don’t work. Parents love our treatment because it’s one and done with no follow-up appointments necessary. It’s safe, fast and effective. Give us a call today for a head check and possible treatment!

super lice

Super Lice: Not So Super

Super Lice

No matter what, head lice are a nuisance and they always have been. We’re lucky we live in a day with so much technology and so many resources. We don’t have to carve lice combs out of stones like people in ancient times but now parents have to deal with an even stronger and trickier strain of head lice. They act and look the same but are resistant to treatments that used to easily kill them.

Super lice are now in 48 states in the U.S, according to head lice research from the last few years. This has brought the efficacy rate of over-the-counter treatments from 96 percent to 28 percent. Parents are realizing more and more just how valuable our AirAllé treatment is because it’s a one and done, safe and effective treatment, which isn’t easy to come by these days. It’s worth the price and makes lice treatment easier than ever for you. If your family is affected by lice in the future, we know we can be the best resource and treatment in town for you.

Super Lice

Super lice got their name from the media in 2015 when public research showed that strains of head lice had developed a resistance to pesticides and chemicals that are in drugstore head lice treatments. Lice have mutated and evolved over the years to become stronger and resistant. Scientists found that lice have become resistant to many medical lice treatments as well. Doctors often recommend Lice Clinics of America because of our success rate. The bad news is any lice treatment you buy at the store or home remedy you find in your kitchen probably will not work. The good news is, our treatment will work no matter what. It works for regular lice, super lice and whatever the future hold for lice. It uses warm, controlled air to dehydrate lice and their eggs.

12 Things To Teach Your Children In Their Younger Years

As parents, we do our best to teach our children about the world and about life. Certain life skills are useful throughout life. Here are 12 things that your children will someday be very grateful that you taught them.

  1. To Be Active

being-active

Expose your children to a healthy lifestyle early on that will lead them to love being outdoors and being on their feet. Teaching good, active habits will assure they don’t turn into a couch potato (hopefully). Teach them that they want to take care of themselves to live a long, healthy and happy life.

  1. Dental Hygiene

dental-hygeine

Did you know that daily flossing can add 6 years to your life? Dental hygiene is extremely important. Get them in the habit NOW. Don’t assume they’ll one day make a habit of it if they don’t start now.

  1. To Face Their Fears

feace-your-fears

Life is not always a picnic. Sometimes we have to do scary things. Teach your children to take on challenges and have the confidence to face their fears. Being afraid of life is lonely and filled with anxiety.

  1. To Be A Reader

reading

There is nothing better for the brain than reading. It is such a valuable skill to have. Always teach your kids to be readers and to have an imagination. Read to them and tell them stories.

  1. How To Have Fun

Beautiful girl having fun at beach

Life should be enjoyed. Teach your kids that it doesn’t have to be serious business all the time. Teach them to live, laugh and love and to have a good time doing it. Hard work is of course, important but kids should know that happy memories are crucial as well.

  1. To Move On

moving-on

Teach them not to dwell on things, not to sweat the small stuff and to learn to eventually move on from hard things or mistakes or things that haunt them. This is never an easy task but dwelling on things can destroy people.

  1. How To Cook

how-to-cook

You either had someone in your life who taught you how to cook and you’re eternally grateful or you wish you had someone who did that for you because ramen gets old after a while and you’re sick of burning meals or over seasoning. Be the parent your child can be grateful to.

  1. Internet Safety
internet-safety

safety first concept with blue key on computer keyboard

The internet can be a scary thing for parents. Teach your kids not to accept a friend request from the creepy guy you don’t know or to accept a chat from someone claiming to be someone who goes to their school. Teach them to only use the internet for good.

  1. Hard Work

hard-work

Teach them to be a hard worker. Spoiling them constantly and never making them work for anything will be a disservice to them.

  1. To Be Themselves

be-yourself

Living a life trying to be someone else is exhausting. What makes this world such a beautiful place is that we are unique and have different things to offer. Teach them to embrace that.

  1. To Stand Up For Themselves

Stand Up For Yourself words on a sign held by a single man or person in a crowd to illustrate being a rebel or going on strike to protect your rights and justice

This can be hard at times but it would be heartbreaking if people walked all over your kids their entire lives. Teach them for not only stand for something but to also stand up for themselves and believe in themselves.

  1. To Be A Friend

friend

Teach them to be selfless and to be the kind of person people want to be around. Friendships are special and we want our children to create meaningful relationships.

Someday your children will be so grateful for the things you taught them. Then they will use what they learned to teach their own children someday and the cycle will continue. Spread goodness. Happy Parenting!

 

head-lice

Head Lice Or Dandruff?

It’s actually quite common to mistake head lice for dandruff or vice versa. They look similar and the average person probably hasn’t seen lice before. There are some distinct differences and once you know them, you’ll be bale to tell the difference.

Location Of Head Lice Eggs

Let’s start with the location of nits (lice eggs). Lice lay eggs about a quarter on an inch from the scalp because they need the warmth of the body to incubate and survive. They also need to be close to the scalp to get their blood supply (That’s their breakfast, lunch and dinner). They survive by sucking blood from your head (yuck). So an egg found at that area would be a definite clue that there’s a lice infestation. If it’s farther away from the scalp, it might be a dead egg or empty nit, or possibly dandruff.

Dandruff can shake right out of your hair but lice eggs don’t budge. Lice eggs secrete a glue-like substance and they will not move if you shake your hair or run your fingers through your hair. Nits (lice eggs) must be individually pulled off with your nails or a lice comb.

What Is Dandruff?

Dandruff is a common form of skin eczema, also called Seborrheic dermatitis. Dandruff can be caused by too much oil on the scalp, which dries and turns into flakes. It is only considered dandruff if it’s on the human scalp. It usually appears as large white yellow flakes. Dandruff might be associated with an irritated head.

Neither dandruff nor head lice present any serious health risks. Lice don’t spread disease, and dandruff can be easily treated with medicated shampoo.

If you discover that it is head lice, give us a call for a lice treatment appointment. If you’re not sure, we can give you a head check!