Local lice center offers free head screenings to school staff as students return to class
WILMINGTON, N.C. — As students across the area head back to school, a local lice center is offering free head screenings to school staff while working to dispel common misconceptions about how lice spread.
Catherine Collins, a mother and owner of Coastal Lice Center in Wilmington, said her experience dealing with lice in her own children inspired her to help other families.
“I have dealt with lice on my own children and it was horrible,” Collins said.
More than a decade ago, Collins said her second child developed lice. After over-the-counter treatments failed, she spent weeks trying to remove the parasites.
“My second child got lice and we tried the kit and it just didn’t work, and we spent hours and days and days and weeks and weeks of picking through the hair,” Collins said.
That experience led Collins to open Coastal Lice Center, where she now treats people of all ages.
“We’ve treated everyone from 3 months old to a lady that was 98, so any age can get lice, but the prime age is 9 to 16,” she said.
With children returning to classrooms, Collins said schools can provide opportunities for lice to spread because students are frequently in close contact with one another.
“It’s just through head-to-head contact,” Collins said. “Some wonder, ‘Where did the first ones come from?’ Well, we don’t know, but they are not living in the environment.”
To help prevent the spread of lice, Collins recommends keeping long hair pulled up. She also recommends scented shampoos or sprays, saying lice do not like the smells of peppermint, lavender, rosemary and eucalyptus.
Collins said another common misconception is that everyone with lice will experience itching.
“The people who don’t itch are the people who come in with the worst cases because it’s been able to multiply and nobody realized,” she said.
When someone visits the Coastal Lice Center, Collins first checks the person’s hair and removes as many lice and nits as possible. She then uses a heated hair device designed to dehydrate the scalp.
Beyond treating lice, Collins said she wants to reduce the stigma surrounding the parasite.
“I don’t want you to be paranoid about catching lice. A lot of people are, and I understand that,” Collins said. “We’re not only trying to help people, we’re trying to erase some of the stigma. It has nothing to do with being dirty. Anybody can get lice.”
Coastal Lice Center is offering free head screenings for school staff as students return to classrooms.
To learn more about the Coastal Lice Center, click here.
