Locally Grown is a paid partnership between local businesses and Little Lake County
Welcome to Locally Grown! Locally Grown introduces you to the people and stories behind local Lake County businesses. This month we have gotten to know the Hawn’s owners of Lice Clinics of America. Today we are going to learn more about what Lice Clinics of America does.
It was a typical spring afternoon; my two daughters (ages 7 and 8) and I had just returned from the park and I was performing my perfunctory tick-check on their heads. As I combed through their thick hair, tweezers at the ready, I discovered something I wasn’t expecting; both of my kids had head lice. To say I was not pleased would be an understatement.
It only took three days of exhausting egg combing and sheet washing for me to feel completely overwhelmed, so when I heard that there was a place that claimed they could get rid of my kids’ lice for me, I called immediately. I was able to book an appointment with Lice Clinics Of America in Vernon Hills for the following day, and I couldn’t get there fast enough. All I wanted was for this little event to be over, a feeling I’m fairly confident is shared by 100% of parents who deal with a lice infestation.
The first thing we saw upon entering the clinic was a comforting sign that read, “Relax. We’ve got this.” Erin and Nick Hawn, the owner/operators of the Vernon Hills Lice Clinics Of America, greeted us warmly and were quick to explain the process. Each member of our family would be carefully checked for the presence of lice and/or eggs, and anyone who had it would be treated using the FDA approved AirAlle device (which looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book) that works by dehydrating lice and eggs safely with the use of warm air. No toxic pesticides or other harsh chemicals are needed.
Once the AirAlle treatment is complete, the patient receives a 30-40 minute professional comb-out to the debri, followed by an active rinse treatment for the whole family which is designed to soffocate any live bugs that may have escaped the heat of the AirAlle device or the combing.
Fortunately, my husband and I were in the clear and only our daughters needed the full treatment. They were each given a kid-friendly Kindle Fire to occupy their time in the chairs, and I got to work peppering the Hawns with lice-related questions, which they cheerfully answered, even allowing me to view some of the victims under hand-held microscopes. I’ll spare you the details, but I will say that lice are pretty amazing in their capacity to breed quickly, their ability move from head to head without jumping or flying (direct contact is how transmission mainly occurs), and their adaptation to withstand nearly every over-the-counter and prescription lice treatment on the market.
The Vernon Hills Lice Clinics Of America was like a beacon of light in a post-apocalyptic landscape – maybe that’s a smidge dramatic, but I was tired of lice, ok? We left the clinic feeling relieved, hardly daring to believe that our kids were truly lice-free. But, as it turns out, not only were they completely “cured,” but also we hadn’t needed to purchase any more containers of the over-the-counter lice medication we started out with at home (2 or 3 treatments are generally needed with store-bought and prescription lice treatments) or spend the next several weeks combing through their hair for eggs. And if for some reason we saw evidence of lice in the next 30 days, Lice Clinics Of America would have treated them again, free of charge. If that isn’t security, I don’t know what is.
Lice Clinics of America is offering Little Lake County Readers $10 off a back-to-school comprehensive head screening and a Buy One Get One Half Off of their lice preventive spray. Just mention you saw it on Little Lake County when booking or purchasing!
Lice Clinics Of America
10 W. Phillip Rd., Suite 123, Vernon Hills
(224) 433-6087 | Facebook
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Disclosure: Lice Clinics of America Vernon Hills is our featured Locally Grown Business of the Month. This series of features is part of a paid partnership with Little Lake County. Contact sales@littlelakecounty if you are interested in featuring your own locally-owned business in our series.
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