“Selfie lice.” It sounds more like a Phoebe Buffay song than something an adult should actually worry about. But recent headlines suggest snapping a selfie with a friend — heads pressed together at just the right angle to avoid the double chin — is a great way to spread the creepy, crawly, hair-loving creatures.
The idea that taking selfies can spread lice has been floated in the past but it gained new hype about a week ago when Dr. Sharon Rink, a Wisconsin pediatrician, appeared on a local news program to discuss back-to-school health concerns. According to her, incidence rates of lice among teens have risen dramatically over the last five years. She attributes it to increased head-to-head contact among the selfie-obsessed generation.
However there’s no real data to back that claim — or any head lice incidence claim at all. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reliable data on exactly how many people get head lice isn’t available. For at least the last five years, the CDC has estimated between 6 and 12 million infestations each year in the United States, primarily among children 3-11 years old.
Rink’s comment spread rapidly across social media. The narcissistic bugs even have their own Twitter handle, @selfielice.
STOP WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!! #lol #selfielice pic.twitter.com/jaZNzDB2eN
— Quin Kendall (@QuinKendall) March 18, 2014
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hoppin from one bitch to another #selfielice
— selfie lice (@selfielice) March 18, 2014
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#selfielice
I just threw up.
#selfie #disgusting #really
— Leah Kristina (@kootz_rootz) March 14, 2014
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Should we be worried? Is it time to start burning selfie sticks en masse? Not just yet.
As someone who has made her living off of head lice, Katie Shepard, founder and CEO of the Shepherd Institute for Lice Solutions, appreciates the free PR but admits that indulging in a selfie doesn’t actually put you at greater risk for contracting head lice.
“There’s a lot of hype on the selfie craze and it’s a great marketing tool, but in reality the chance of spreading lice that way is slim-to-none,” Shepherd said. “The bugs can move up to 9 inches in a minute’s time, but it doesn’t happen in the nano-second it takes to snap a selfie.”
As it turns out, the little buggers are picky eaters. Transmission occurs primarily through head-to-head contact. Lice need to feel the warmth of the body and smell a compatible blood type in order to be enticed enough to make their way from one person to another, Shepherd said. And they can’t fly or hop either. They crawl, which takes more time.
While anyone is capable of contracting lice, it’s most often found among school-aged children. They don’t quite understand boundaries yet, spending more time in each other’s personal space than is typical for most adults, said Dr. Karen Sheehan, a pediatrician at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital.
Childless Millennials, fear not. “It can happen among 20-35 year olds, but most likely they’re going to get it from their kids,” Sheehan said. In her experience, one-third of mothers whose children contract lice will end up catching it themselves. But does anyone want to see selfies with your kids anyway?
Anything is possible, so it’s important to know how to get rid of lice if you do catch it, either from a selfie or a more common method of transmission such as sharing hats, combs or towels.
Over-the-counter remedies containing a type of insecticide called permethrin have been popular since the mid-90’s, according to Dr. Kyong Yoon, an assistant professor of biology at Southern Illinois University. Unfortunately, lice have built up a resistance to the chemical, so the treatments have become less effective.
Shepherd’s best advice is to use a lice comb to pick out each little offender.
“There’s just not a shortcut to getting rid of head lice,” Shepherd said. “It’s a painstaking task. That’s why they call it nitpicking.”
Those of us not interested in behaving like chimps can visit special salons, such as Hair Fairies, at 2336 N. Clark St. in Lincoln Park, to have the lice removed by a licensed professional.
So go ahead and keep snapping selfies. You’re not that tasty anyway.
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