LiceDoctors Lice Treatment Service Calls for Major Lice Education Initiative Through Schools

ROSLYN, N.Y. - March 3, 2014 - PRLog -- If you have ever tried and failed to combat head lice on your own, you know how frustrating the experience is. It takes perseverance, and a lot of it, to put an end to a case of lice.

According to Karen Sokoloff, of LiceDoctors, however,  perseverance, while key, is only part of the solution. "Without a systematic treatment plan, you are not going to get rid of the nits (eggs in the hair)", maintains Sokoloff, whose professional  in-home lice treatment and nit removal service has successfully treated over 30,000 families.

LiceDoctors is calling upon schools to provide parents with access to an array of educational materials about head lice. According to Sokoloff,"There are a lot of sources of information online of which parents should be aware. For many people, a diagnosis of head lice is extremely upsetting and overwhelming.  Parents panic and run out to the drug store to buy chemical lice shampoos, that are often ineffective. Every day we get calls for help from parents who have spent a lot of time and money spinning their wheels, trying in vain to eradicate the lice, and not knowing what to do and not do."

Sokoloff says that some schools have begun an educational initiative, but there are still many who send kids home with no information other than that they have lice and are not to return until there are no nits in the hair. Sokoloff asks, "What is a parent to do with that information? It can be very scary, as well as lonely, as some parents still associate lice with a stigma so they don't want to reach out for help. This often leads to a frustrated family as the lice keep returning. We are out in the field so we know that parents waste a lot of time and money trying to get rid of this problem because they have not been advised of effective treatment options and because they have not been trained on how to identify and find the lice in the hair."

A comprehensive lice educational protocol initiated by every school district would be enormously helpful for families. "With many schools loosening their school lice policy criteria and allowing students into school with nits (after any treatment) education has never been more important."', Sokoloff says.  In an effort to reduce school absenteeism and stigmatizing from head lice, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), as well as the National Schools Nursing Association (NSNA), and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), now all recommend that schools drop "no nit" policies.

LiceDoctors has initiated a major lice education effort. The company recently launched a "Lice Education Center" page on its website (www.licedoctors.com) with information on many lice-related topics. In addition, the company has been doing a series of webinars entitled "Secrets of Lice Identification and Removal " for school nurses and parents (check the web site for the next webinar). LiceDoctors is also available to address PTA meetings on the subject of head lice.  In addition, LiceDoctors is reaching out to schools to encourage them to provide information to parents and teachers from a variety of additional valuable web sites including the AAP, NSNA, CDC, and the National Pediculosis Association, an advocacy group based in Newton, Massachusetts.

In addition to referring parents to the aforementioned sites, Sokoloff says that all schools should send home a packet of information to parents that addresses the following lice topics: how lice are transmitted (over 90% are from head to head contact), how to identify lice (they scoot from the light and can be hard to see, and have 6 legs and no wings); how to identify nits (translucent shell covering a brown bug and stuck to hair shaft); how to eliminate lice from the head ( must physically remove every nit and must be able to identify even the smallest nit to get every one out);  how to kill lice in the home (not necessary to do so as lice die when off the human head for 24 hours).

In addition to its webinar series, LiceDoctors has contacted thousands of school nurses and principals to advocate for a comprehensive education policy for parents. "The incidence of head lice is significant. Lice have developed a resistance to chemical pediculicides, so the old model no longer works. It is not enough for schools to tell parents that their children have lice and for them to go out and buy a lice shampoo. To put an end to a case of lice is more complicated than that, and as with most everything else, education is power. Schools are in an excellent position to disseminate information to parents and LiceDoctors intends to keep lobbying to make this happen more."

LiceDoctors is the largest head lice removal service in the country with in-home professional service available in over 70 cities nationwide. LiceDoctors can be reached at 800-224-2537 or online at www.licedoctors.com. The company has a physician medical director on staff whose copyrighted all-natural protocol has been used successfully for over 18 years. LiceDoctors has an "A" rating from the Better Business Bureau.