Head Lice - What Do Lice Look Like? How To Get Rid Of Them?

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 21:43

Head lice - what do lice look like? How to get rid of them?

Lice are insects that parasitize the human body. When infected with lice, doctors talk about a disease such as head lice.

Lice are ectoparasites of the order of chewing lice. With its mouth organs, the louse pierces the skin of the host animal and sucks its blood. Lice can live only on a few closely related host animal species. Human lice (Pediculus humanus) are common in all corners of our planet. They carry very dangerous diseases - typhus (typhus and relapsing), Volyn fever, and so on.

The disease in which lice parasitize on human skin is called "head lice" (lice). There are three types of lice that can parasitize on humans: head lice, body lice and pubic lice (ploshchit). Thanks to this classification, there are, respectively, three subspecies of the disease: head lice, head lice and pubic head lice. Sometimes these subspecies form a mixed type of head lice.

Even in modern society, the problem of lice is still relevant, and they are often encountered. You can get infected from a sick person. Outbreaks of the disease are often observed in organized groups: in kindergartens and in schools. Sometimes people become infected when using bed linen on the train, while going to saunas and baths. Most often, it is the head that is affected. It is noteworthy that lice prefer people who regularly wash their hair: it is easier for parasites to suck blood from clean skin.

Content:

• What does a louse look like?
• The causes of head lice
• Lice infestation symptoms
• Diagnostics
• Removing head lice
• How to get rid of lice in 1 day and forever?
• Preventing lice infestation

What does a louse look like?

• The louse is a small and mobile insect. In just a minute, it can cover a distance of 23 cm. It is difficult to notice the parasite.
• Lice are gray or whitish in color. In length, it does not exceed 3 mm. The parasite has 3 pairs of legs.
• On the head, it is easier to find eggs that lice lay. They are called nits. Lice deposit them in significant numbers.
• Nits are represented by dense yellow sacs. They are well soldered to the hair. You can't just shake them off.
• The size of nits does not exceed 1.5 mm.
• Lice and nits most often settle on the scalp. However, sometimes they colonize the eyelashes and eyebrows.
• One insect lives for 3 weeks. If it leaves the head, the lice's lifespan is reduced to 24 hours. Nits are able to remain viable for 14 days.
• Lice feed on human blood. After infection, the head begins to itch after about 14-30 days. Itching is due to the fact that when piercing the skin, the lice secrete saliva, which leads to irritation.

The causes of head lice

Lice cannot fly or jump.

They are able to hit a person's head in such ways as:

• During direct contact.
• While using other people's personal hygiene items, for example, towels, bedding, combs.
• When using a headgear taken from an infected person.

Lice are able to run from one head to another when hair comes in contact. The chance of infection is especially high if a person's hair is long.

Many people believe that lice are the lot of antisocial groups of the population. In fact, anyone can get infected, regardless of their status. The likelihood of infection increases in places such as: school, kindergarten, summer camp, sauna, steam bath, swimming pool, hotel, hairdresser, train.

In the stomach of lice, there are conditions for the multiplication of microbes that can cause typhus or relapsing fever. The disease is transmitted to humans not through the bite of a louse, but through its excrement. In the saliva of the insect, typhus pathogens are absent. Also, pathogens of the disease go out into the external environment when the louse is crushed. If there are lesions on the scalp, the typhoid bacteria will penetrate through them into the bloodstream and spread throughout the body. Also, typhoid infection can occur when pathogenic flora gets on the mucous membranes, or when they are rubbed into the head. Therefore, it is so important to start treatment as soon as a problem is detected.

Lice infestation symptoms

The fact that a person has lice cannot be understood immediately. The first symptoms develop after 2-3 weeks. Once on a person's head, the louse is attached to his hair. It needs blood to reproduce. The insect feeds only on it. To extract blood, lice pierce the scalp with their proboscis. In the place where the bite was made, a small red spot may remain. These spots start to itch. After the louse has eaten, it begins to lay eggs. They are called nits. The eggs are securely attached to the hair. They cannot be washed off with regular shampoo. After a few days, new insects hatch from the nits.

The main symptom of a lice infestation is itchy scalp. It will be strongest in the occipital region, behind the ears and on the temples. This leads to the fact that a person sleeps worse, his appetite may decrease.

If you carefully examine the scalp, you can find yellow crusts on it. Sometimes inflammation of the hair follicles is noticeable. Where the lice are the most (on the back of the head, behind the ears, etc.), the skin is red, the rash resembles eczema. If you look closely at the hair, you can see nits. They are white or yellowish in color. If you crush the nits, you can hear a click.

When the disease is not treated for a long time, the hair sticks together, their follicles become very inflamed, and begin to fester. Lice can cause the development of lymphadenitis. At the same time, the lymph nodes, which are located behind the ears and on the neck, increase in size and begin to hurt.

Diagnostics

Diagnosis boils down to examining the scalp and hair. The fact that a person is infected with lice will be indicated by nits and scratching on the skin.

Removing head lice

In past years, lice therapy was not effective enough. The insects were poisoned with kerosene tar, Dichlorvos, vinegar, and cranberry juice. All these funds are folk remedies, their use is not recommended in modern conditions.

Now in pharmacies you can buy various drugs for the treatment of lice. They come in the form of shampoos or sprays.

Lice treatments:

• Flu Marks (450 rubles), Emulsion D-95 (200 rubles). They are safe oils that are odorless, but effective.
• Chemerichnaya water.
• Pedilin shampoo with malathion.
• Nittifor, Nix, Medifox concentrate 5%, Medifox-gel, Higia, Veda 2. All these products contain permethrin.
• Foxilon. This lotion contains benzyl benzoate.
• Paranit shampoo with mineral oils.
• Para Plus is a combination drug that contains permethrin, malathion and piperonyl butoxide.
• Sulfuric ointment with a concentration of 5%.
• Boric ointment.

The dermatologist must determine which remedy is suitable for a particular person. Before starting treatment, you must carefully study the instructions for use and strictly follow it. Many drugs are highly toxic, so they must be used with caution. It is forbidden to use these products to treat pregnant women, young children, people with allergies, as well as patients with respiratory diseases.

After the time of action of the drug is over, you will need to comb the hair with a comb. The teeth should be sparse. To make it easier to comb out nits and lice, you need to treat your hair with olive oil. An iron comb is used for combing out.

Do not wash your hair with shampoo for 2 consecutive days after treatment. It is forbidden to use conditioners and hair balms. They are not used for another 14 days after the therapy, as they create a film on the hair. It will not allow the active substances of the drug to destroy the nits.

If lice have appeared in a small child, then combing them can be dealt with. It is held on days 1, 5, 9 and 13. Pre-conditioner is applied to the hair, and then it is thoroughly combed with a comb.

It is important to note that either the combing method or medicines are used to get rid of lice.

Some people believe that you can get rid of lice by cutting your hair short. In fact, nits are located no further than 5 cm from the surface of the head. So a haircut won't help.

Until a person is sure that he has gotten rid of the problem, he is forbidden to visit crowded places. This period is 14 days after the treatment.

The repeated probability of infection is low, since lice do not live longer than a day outside the head.

To minimize the risk of getting head lice again, you need to follow recommendations such as:

• Make a general cleaning of the room.
• Wash bed linen and clothes at 54 degrees. Nits and lice will die after 5 minutes of this treatment.
• Treat combs and hairpins with disinfectants. They are placed for an hour in water in which lice shampoo is dissolved, or in an alcohol solution. You can wash the comb with soap and put it in the freezer for 2 days.
• Those things that cannot be washed must be dry-cleaned, or packed in bags for 2 weeks. During this time, all insects will die.

How to get rid of lice in 1 day and forever?

Combing is not inferior in efficiency to treating the head with chemicals. This was proven in an experiment in Belgium.

The preparations allow to destroy adult insects, but nits often survive. It is firmly adhered to the hair, so re-treatment of the head with toxic substances is required.

The experiment involved 600 people who were found to have lice. Half of the subjects were treated with drugs and the other half were combed out using a hair conditioner. Both methods were found to be equally effective.

Preventing lice infestation

In order to prevent infection, you must carefully follow the rules of personal hygiene, and also not use other people's personal belongings.

Long hair on public transport should be tucked under clothes or tied in a ponytail. You cannot use other people's combs, elastic bands, hairpins, towels. If you are traveling by train, it is recommended that you bring your own bed linen from home. You cannot try on other people's hats.

If lice were found in one family member, then all people who live with the patient in the same territory should undergo treatment.

After treatment, you need to iron all bedding, hats, towels. It is important to inform school and kindergarten about your illness to prevent the spread of lice.

Author of the article: Alekseeva Maria Yurievna | Therapist

Education: From 2010 to 2016 Practitioner of the therapeutic hospital of the central medical-sanitary unit No. 21, city of elektrostal. Since 2016 she has been working in the diagnostic center No. 3.