Families and Holidays -- Why We See Jump in Incidence of Head Lice After Thanksgiving and Christmas

We know the positives of family and friend get-togethers to celebrate the holidays. How fun it can be for little cousins to play with each other and for multiple generations to be in one room. Of course, in our honest moments, we may acknowledge that we are not so crazy about loud Uncle Bill or clingy cousin Michelle. There is one more downside to holiday get-togethers: right after the holidays we always see a jump in the incidence of head lice. Just ask your school nurse; she will corroborate that. Why is that? The reason is that any gathering of people is a potential field day for head lice. If someone arrives at the dinner wi th head lice, there is a chance that several others will leave with head lice. When heads are close to each other, lice have the opportunity to crawl from one head to another. These creepy critters are parasites; they feed off the blood from the host in order to survive. You do not have to be worried about lice in the house. Lice have a strong survival mechanism; they do not like to leave your head, where the temperature is optimal and the food is plentiful, to go to a sofa or chair where they will die after a day of no food. Head lice typically live 30 days before dying, and they do so by feeding on your head or your cousin Michelle's head or even your loud Uncle Bill's head. After your holiday dinner, LiceDoctors suggests that you go home and check your children for head lice. Place them under a bright lamp and look for bugs that scoot quickly around the hair. If you find evidence of head lice give LiceDoctors a call in the Lehigh Valley at 484-725-6362. We will send a lice expert to your home at your earliest convenience and we will leave you with peace of mind.