What's worse than having your kid sent home from school with a head crawling with vermin?
Finding out that head lice has grown increasingly resistant to the pesticides used to treat it.
Apparently, it only takes about three to five years for bugs to become resistant to new poisons. But doctors are still recommending prescription and over-the-counter shampoos because they will work for some people - and also because there are few alternatives. Although new treatments are in the pipeline - including gels that suffocate lice and hot air treatments that dry them out - these new solutions are still awaiting FDA approval.
What if you try a pesticide shampoo and it doesn't work? Experts recommend you try different brands of lice shampoos - Ovide, a malathion lotion, is the only product that generally works here in the U.S. If the lice are still alive following application, you might have to try experimenting with more traditional remedies, such as soaking your child's head in mayonnaise, or combing the nits out of the hair with a fine-toothed comb.
At any given point, about 1% of kids are suffering from head lice, causing parents to shell out an estimated $57 million in lice shampoos and other products. So I would bet those pharmaceutical companies are working overtime to build that better mouse lice trap.
