Were you sent home from school for head lice? Here’s why the CDC says that's no longer recommended

If you remember being sent home when the school nurse found lice in your hair, you might be surprised at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s current guidelines.

Students can stay in school until the end of the day, then go home for treatment, and return as long as the treatment has begun. The guidance hasn’t changed in over a decade, the CDC told NPR, contrary to some recent news reports.

That approach makes sense, according to Dr. Dawn Nolt, a pediatrician at Oregon Health & Science University Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland, Oregon. Having lice in your hair just isn’t that urgent of a condition, she said. “It doesn't carry any additional diseases. It's just really a nuisance,” she added.