Information for patients: removal of lice and eggs by combing

doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7401.1258

BMJ 2003;326:1258 (7 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7401.1258

Commentary

Information for patients: removal of lice and eggs by combing

Zosia Kmietowicz, freelance medical journalist

BestTreatments, BMJ Publishing Group, London WC1H 9JR zkmietowicz@bmjgroup.com

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Little research has been done into whether combing helps toget rid of head lice, so it's difficult to say whether it works.Success seems to depend on how committed you are to carryingout this treatment.

Combing wet hair with a special comb is called "bug busting"or "wet combing." You use a special finetooth comb that canpick out lice. They are supplied with some head lice shampoos.Otherwise, find a comb with very fine teeth: the space betweenthe teeth of the comb should be no more than 0.3 mm (0.01 inch).

Here's how to remove lice by combing:

First comb through wet hair with an ordinary comb to get ridof knots and tangles.
Apply conditioner (or olive oil) tomake it easier to comb thehair with the finetoothed comb.
Comb through every bit of hair, pulling the comb from thescalpto the hair . . . [Full text of this article]