Honolulu, HI, Aug. 06, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lice Clinics of America – Hawaii reported that their two Honolulu clinics, part of the Lice Clinics of America clinic network, saw a 32 percent increase of lice activity from April to May of this year, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Infestations of lice affecting the entire family have been more severe during the pandemic, likely due to the fact that families have sheltered at home together.
“We’ve had to change things up with the pandemic,” says Barrie Desmond, owner of Lice Clinics of America – Hawaii, which has three clinics, Kihei, on Maui and Honolulu, and Waipahu on Oahu. “We’ve been offering phone consultations, curbside pickup, and we have an online store to order products off our website. We’ve made sure to follow the CDC guidelines and take all measures to keep our employees and clients safe.”
In order to ensure the safety of staff and clients, each Hawaii client was pre-screened over the phone to ensure that they were not sick before coming in. They require each client to wear a face mask and have limited their clients to one at a time, having families wait outside the clinic until the treatment area is ready for them. Each treatment area is thoroughly cleaned and sanitized in-between clients.
“Our customers almost always try at home first, unless they’re a returning customer,” says Desmond. “Because of the quarantine, we are seeing that the whole family is becoming infested. Lice won't cure itself - so while the parent struggles getting rid of it using traditional over the counter products, it’s spreading to other members of the household easier.”
Desmond has a history with lice and Lice Clinics of America. She recently opened Waipahu, her third clinic, in March of this year. “My daughter had lice at camp in June 2016 and we opened the doors to our first clinic in Kihei on Maui in November 2016,” says Desmond. “Exactly one year later we expanded to Oahu and opened our Honolulu location which is located on Ward Avenue. Now, families living on the west side and North Shore no longer have to drive to town and they love the new location. We are on the second floor of the Westgate Shopping Center.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Head-to-head contact with an already infested person is the most common way to get head lice. Head-to-head contact is common during play at school, at home, and elsewhere, such as sports activities, the playground, slumber parties, and camps.” The CDC estimates 6-12 million infestations occur each year in the U.S. among children 3-11 years of age.
Dr. Krista Lauer, Medical Director of Lice Clinics of America, states, “If you have children who are elementary and middle-school ages, it’s important to take some immediate steps to either prevent your children from being infested or to properly treat and kill the lice before they spread to others in your family and social group.”
Dr. Lauer says, “First, don’t panic, and second, don’t be embarrassed. A head lice infestation has nothing to do with personal hygiene, or the cleanliness of your environment. In fact, with recent shelter-in-place orders, head lice infestations more easily spread to everyone in the household due to close proximity.” She recommends the following to make sure lice aren’t living in your child’s hair:
- Inspect your own head and your child’s, especially if your child has an itchy scalp. Look for eggs, nymphs and adult lice. One adult louse can lay about a hundred eggs during her life span. That’s a lot of new lice.
- Call the parents of your child’s friends and have them check for head lice, remembering that earlier intervention can help to reduce the infestation level. With shelter-in-place orders being lifted, kids are playing together again, and summer camps are in session.
- If you see lice—or if you are unsure whether you have lice—visit a professional lice treatment center such as Lice Clinics of America for a screening.
- Traditional over-the-counter treatments contain pesticides that are ineffective. Lice have evolved into “super lice” and have developed resistance to those pesticides. Find a treatment that is safe and effective. Lice Clinics of America has several options to choose from.
Lice Clinics of America is the world’s number-one service brand for treating head lice. The company’s revolutionary heated-air treatment is guaranteed to kill lice, lice eggs, and super lice in a single, one-hour treatment. Lice Clinics of America offers professional lice screenings and a full line of top-rated lice treatment and prevention products including professional solutions for parents with children at home.
For more information visit www.liceclinicsofamerica.com.
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About Lice Clinics of America
With more than 300 clinics worldwide in 30 countries, Lice Clinics of America (www.LiceClinicsOfAmerica.com) is the largest network of professional head lice treatment centers in the world. Its patented heated-air device, AirAllé, has effectively treated more than 675,000 head lice infestations. Lice Clinics of America and AirAllé (www.airalle.com) are brands owned by Larada Sciences™, Inc., which is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.