Machine wash and dry clothing, bed linens, and other items that the infested person wore or used during the 2 days before treatment using the hot water (130☏) laundry cycle and the high heat drying cycle.

Follow these steps to help avoid re–infestation by lice that have recently fallen off the hair or crawled onto clothing or furniture. You don’t need to spend a lot of time or money on housecleaning activities. Supplemental Measures: Head lice do not survive long if they fall off a person and cannot feed. Retreatment with lindane shampoo is not recommended. For some drugs, retreatment is recommended routinely about a week after the first treatment (7–9 days, depending on the drug) and for others only if crawling lice are seen during this period.

Retreatment is meant to kill any surviving hatched lice before they produce new eggs.

Nit removal is not needed when treating with spinosad topical suspension. Continue to check for 2–3 weeks to be sure all lice and nits are gone.

After each treatment, checking the hair and combing with a nit comb to remove nits and lice every 2–3 days may decrease the chance of self–reinfestation.

Many flea combs made for cats and dogs are also effective.

Nit (head lice egg) combs, often found in lice medicine packages, should be used to comb nits and lice from the hair shaft.

If your health care provider recommends a different pediculicide, carefully follow the treatment instructions contained in the box or printed on the label. Do not retreat until speaking with your health care provider a different pediculicide may be necessary.

If, after 8–12 hours of treatment, no dead lice are found and lice seem as active as before, the medicine may not be working.

Comb dead and any remaining live lice out of the hair using a fine–toothed nit comb. The medicine may take longer to kill all the lice.

If a few live lice are still found 8–12 hours after treatment, but are moving more slowly than before, do not retreat.

Have the infested person put on clean clothing after treatment.

Pay special attention to instructions on the label or in the box regarding how long the medication should be left on the hair and how it should be washed out. If the infested person has very long hair (longer than shoulder length), it may be necessary to use a second bottle.

Apply lice medicine, also called pediculicide, according to the instructions contained in the box or printed on the label.

Before applying treatment, it may be helpful to remove clothing that can become wet or stained during treatment.

Treat the infested person(s): Requires using an Over-the-counter (OTC) or prescription medication.

Vacuuming furniture and floors can remove an infested person’s hairs that might have viable nits attached. Items such as hats, grooming aids, and towels that come in contact with the hair of an infested person should not be shared. Items that cannot be laundered may be dry-cleaned or sealed in a plastic bag for two weeks. For example, hats, scarves, pillow cases, bedding, clothing, and towels worn or used by the infested person in the 2-day period just before treatment is started can be machine washed and dried using the hot water and hot air cycles because lice and eggs are killed by exposure for 5 minutes to temperatures greater than 53.5☌ (128.3☏). When treating head lice, supplemental measures can be combined with recommended medicine (pharmacologic treatment) however, such additional (non-pharmacologic) measures generally are not required to eliminate a head lice infestation. To be most effective, retreatment should occur after all eggs have hatched but before new eggs are produced. For those that are more strongly ovicidal, retreatment is recommended only if live (crawling) lice are still present several days after treatment (see recommendation for each medication). For pediculicides that are only weakly ovicidal or not ovicidal, routine retreatment is recommended. Some pediculicides (medicines that kill lice) have an ovicidal effect (kill eggs). All infested persons (household members and close contacts) and their bedmates should be treated at the same time. Some experts believe prophylactic treatment is prudent for persons who share the same bed with actively-infested individuals. All household members and other close contacts should be checked those persons with evidence of an active infestation should be treated.

Treatment for head lice is recommended for persons diagnosed with an active infestation.

Home remedies for lice