Written by Dr Richard Russell, James Cochrane Practice

Q. My child’s gone back to school and may have nits - help!

A. Don’t panic - most children will get head lice at some point in their lives, usually at primary school, and they are easily treated at home.

Treatments to get rid of head lice are available to buy from pharmacies and from supermarkets.

Head lice is easily transmitted - so everyone with head lice in your household should be treated on the same day.

There are several different products that can be applied to the scalp and hair to kill head lice, including:

• dimeticone 4 per cent lotion or lotion spray

• dimeticone 4 per cent spray gel

• mineral oil and dimeticone spray

• isopropyl myristate and cyclomethicone solution

Some treatments need be done twice, seven days apart, to make sure any newly hatched lice are killed. A pharmacist is the best person to recommend the right treatment rather than a GP and will do a prescription if needed.

A simple way to tackle nits is to use conditioner on the hair and fine comb the hair to get rid of the lice.

Detection combing should usually be done two or three days after finishing treatment, and again another seven days after that, to check for any live head lice.

Always check the pack or leaflet to see if a product is suitable for you, particularly if you're pregnant or breastfeeding, or your child has head lice and is less than two years of age.

So don’t panic - you can take action to get rid of these irritable little visitors!