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Head lice in a child: how to check, how to treat, and what school can ask
For anyone looking after a child who has head lice, or who came home with a note about them: a parent, a grandparent, a foster parent, an aunt or uncle. This page passes on, by name, what three pages of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and one page of the National Library of Medicine say: how to check a head, the steps of a treatment, what to do in the hours and weeks after, what to wash at home and what is not needed, how lice spread, and what CDC says about school. It recommends no product. It builds the questions to ask a provider or a pharmacist. Take only what you need today.
A word with a dotted line under it, like this, opens its official definition, quoted from a U.S. government glossary.
Right now
- Head lice are not an emergency. CDC’s page About Head Lice says they do not transmit any disease and are not considered a health hazard, and that getting them is not related to cleanliness of you or your environment.
- A young child: CDC’s page Treatment of Head Lice says to consult your healthcare provider before treating young children. It gives no age.
- If you are pregnant or nursing: the National Library of Medicine’s page says to check with your health care provider first.
- Never kerosene or gasoline: the National Library of Medicine’s page says they are dangerous and flammable. No fumigant sprays or fogs: CDC says they can be toxic if inhaled or absorbed through the skin.
- School: CDC says you do not need to send students with head lice home early; they can go home at the end of the day, be treated, and return to class after beginning appropriate treatment. Your school may have its own rule.
If a lice medicine or a spray was swallowed, got in the eyes, or was breathed in, see When it might be a poisoning. If someone has trouble breathing, has a seizure or cannot be woken, call 911. Those two lines are ours: none of the four pages names 911.
More help
- A medicine or spray that was swallowed, splashed or breathed in: When it might be a poisoning.
- When you and the school disagree: Help at school for your child.
- For a visit: Get ready for your appointment. No insurance: When you need a doctor and can’t pay.
- More pages about a child’s health: Looking after a baby or child: find the right page.
- All our free tools.
Looking after a baby or child? The pages on this site for a baby or child, on one list.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor, nurse or pharmacist has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 10, 2026 on four pages: three on cdc.gov (About Head Lice, reviewed June 4, 2024; Treatment of Head Lice, reviewed November 12, 2024; Providing Care for Individuals with Head Lice, reviewed February 21, 2024) and the National Library of Medicine’s own MedlinePlus summary, Head Lice. The page says whose words it is passing on, and what is marked “ours” is our own. The 911 line and the poisoning line are ours: none of the four pages names 911. Medicines: CDC says it does not make recommendations on a specific product, and this guide names none to buy. The one medicine named is spinosad topical suspension, in CDC’s own line that nits do not need to be removed when it is used. School: CDC’s pages say a child does not need to leave early or stay out for nits; the National Library of Medicine’s page says to check the school’s policy. The guide gives both. Numbers are the named page’s own. What we left out or did not read: the name of any product; CDC’s page for clinicians; body lice and pubic lice, which are different and are treated differently; how to check tightly coiled or braided hair, which the pages do not describe; combing by itself as a treatment, which the pages do not describe; and the other sites the National Library of Medicine’s page links to. This page saves nothing and loads no tracking.