Facts & Myths

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• Head lice are spread most commonly by direct head-to-head (hair-to-hair) contact. However, much less frequently, they are spread by sharing clothing or belongings onto which lice have crawled or nits attached.

• Head lice survive less than 1–2 days if they fall off a person and cannot feed.

• An estimated 6 million to 12 million infestations occur annually among children 3 to 11 years of age in the United States. 

• Personal hygiene or cleanliness in the home or school has nothing to do with getting head lice.

• Cost of over-the-counter chemicals, prescriptions are 3 times more expensive, and do not have research indicates that 80% of adult lice are resistant to over-the-counter treatments.

• Manual combing to remove lice and nits is the only way to properly treat and remove head lice.

• Children and adults can have reactions such as redness, swelling, and itching due to chemicals in over the counter treatments.