Why You Should Get Checked for Lice by a Lice Professional

Head lice can be very difficult to spot.  To the untrained eye, lice (bugs) or nits (eggs) may look like dandruff. Every day our clients come in and tell us that they were checked (and cleared) by numerous individuals. Don't let what happened to Heidi Klum happen to you. If you suspect that your child may have lice, don't wait..contact a professional lice service. Questions? Call us at 877-237-LICE or visit us at www.licetamers.com

Heidi Klum - Heidi Klum Travelled The Globe With Lice

By WENN in Movies / TV / Theatre on 23 May 2015

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Heidi Klum

Former Supermodel-turned-tv Personality Heidi Klum Fears She May Have Unwittingly Given Friends And Business Associates Around The World Lice After All Four Of Her Children Were Found To Be Housing The Critters In Their Hair.

http://hub.contactmusic.com/heidi-klum/news/heidi-klum-travelled-the-globe-with-lice_4744379

The Project Runway beauty reveals she recently received the bad news in a phone call from a nurse at one of her daughter's schools, and quickly discovered her other three kids' were infested with head lice.

The panicked mum, who was at work at the time, asked her hair stylists to give her a quick check for lice, and was relieved when they told her she was bug free, but hours later assistants she had tasked with treating her kids' hair found Klum had been walking around with lice and eggs in her hair too.

She explains, "I'm at work (with my) hairdresser (and) I said, 'Can you please check if I have lice?' They're looking and looking and they're like, 'No, no, no, everything is fine', so I'm like, 'Great!'

"All four of my children, they're at home, they're all being picked... In all these years, that has never happened. It's a nightmare! You have to wash everything. And then I come home and I sit down and the lice fairies (assistants) look.

"Sure enough, (I'm) covered in lice eggs and lice on my head. Who knows how many months I've had these already? I mean, I went to Australia to New Zealand to London to New York! I went all over the place! I took them global...! It's a mum's nightmare."

Curing head lice: Chemicals, combs or a little outside help?

Updated May 19, 2015 11:09 AM
By RUTH BASHINSKY. Special to Newsday

Melissa Levin, Nurse Practitioner and owner of Lice Tamers Checks a Child for Head Lice

http://www.newsday.com/lifestyle/family/treating-head-lice-chemicals-combs-and-more-on-long-island-1.10447450
Many parents have been there: Your child comes home from school, camp or sports with head lice, and you panic. That was exactly what Plainview mother Michelle Geller did when the wingless, bloodsucking insects were found in her 10-year-old daughter Nicole's hair.

"I was hysterical. I started to rip my house apart. I threw out all the pillows, bedding, headbands, brushes and hundreds of dollars of American Girl dolls," says Geller, 39, a teacher who was also concerned that her two other young daughters, also with thick, long hair, could catch lice, too.Geller had two choices -- get treatment or do it herself. But if she did it herself with over-the-counter remedies, she'd be right in the middle of a raging debate on the safety and effectiveness of home treatments.

The topical drugs used to treat lice are insecticides and can be dangerous if they are misused or overused, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency encourages people to avoid overusing lice medication unless instructed by a pharmacist or physician. Other recommendations include not treating an infested person more than two to three times with the same medication and avoiding the use of multiple head lice drugs at the same time.For Geller, treatment with some of the over-the-counter products was not an option. "I was not putting pesticides on my kid's head. These over-the-counter products have so many chemicals in them. I don't know what the risks or side effects of using them are," she says.

A friend told her about a local lice removal company that does not use harsh chemicals, Lice Tamers Lice Treatment Center, which makes house calls and also has a shop in Melville. The owner, nurse practitioner Melissa Levin, spent three hours going strand by strand through her daughter's hair while teaching Geller what to look for. "She taught me what was a nit and what a louse looks like," says Geller. (Nits are eggs and young lice and require magnification to see.) "I found it very educational."Geller, in fact, recently relived her family's drama. This month, her 5-year-old daughter also came down with head lice. This time Geller didn't get out of sorts. She had her own plan in place: "I ran to Melissa, and she treated my daughter and now all the lice is gone."

LICE AND SUMMER CAMP

Although many camps have their own head lice policies, it is important to be proactive, says Melissa Levin, a family nurse practitioner and owner of Melville-based LiceTamers Treatment Center. "Parents are starting to call me now to book their pre- and post-camp lice check appointments," which are $25 with a discounted rate for those who prepay, she says. "Most kids come straight from the camp. It's a madhouse."Children staying in tight quarters at sleepaway camp should run a fine-toothed lice comb through the hair twice a week, she says. Applying some shampoos, conditioners, gels and sprays that contain tea tree oil, peppermint and rosemary may help keep lice at bay, she adds. Braiding long hair is also recommended.

Lice Tamers is located at:

900 Walt Whitman Rd., suite LL2, Melville, 11747; licetamers.com (they make house calls; price varies depending on location). Rates: $199 girl's medium to long hair; $159 boy's skater cut, and $129 buzz cut.

For information, or to make an appointment call 877-237-LICE