Q. My daughter ended up with lice several weeks ago. She most likely picked them up from one of the girls at a sleepover.
We treated her with lice shampoo twice, and did every-other-day comb-outs. I also vacuumed, cleaned, washed and dried all her bedding and clothing at high heat.
The first time I treated her, I combed out hundreds of nits and about a half dozen bugs. A week later with the second shampoo, I combed out 3 bugs and maybe a dozen nits.
A week later I did the Listerine treatment. I combed out one bug and probably about half a dozen nits. After another week of treating with Listerine, I have found no nits and no bugs. It really does seem to work.
A. There is increasing frustration with conventional lice shampoos. That’s because there are reports that lice may have developed resistance to common ingredients in over-the-counter treatments.
A relatively new prescription product called Ulesfia is a benzyl alcohol formulation that smothers the bugs. It is pricey, though, running between $45 and $75 a bottle. That is enough to treat one head of short hair. For long hair, you may need two or three bottles. The treatment needs to be repeated after a week.
A bottle of Listerine costs about $5. The alcohol and herbal oils in this mouthwash also appear to kill lice, although the FDA has not approved it for this use.
