Adult: The fully grown and developed adult louse is about the size of a sesame seed, has six legs, and is tan to grayish-white in color. Adult head lice may look darker in persons with dark hair than in persons with light hair. To survive, adult head lice must feed on blood.
Look for lice crawling on the scalp where the hair is parted or on the hair shaft. The lice will be dark in color and the size of a poppyseed. Look for nits near hair follicle about ¼ inch from scalp. Nits (eggs) will be white or yellowish-brown.
When lice first hatch from their eggs, they're called nymphs, and they look just like adult lice but smaller, about the size of a sesame seed. The babies are clear in colour for the first few hours. “You can see right through them, so it's very difficult to see them in your hair,” says Faulkner.
A diagnosis of head lice is made by visual inspection. If you look closely at your child's hair on their scalp, you may be able to see the tiny white nits attached to the hair shafts. Nits resemble dandruff but aren't as easy to brush or shake off the hair. Adult lice can move around quickly and are difficult to see.
After hatching, nymphs go through three stages of growth moultings, maturing after 7 to 10 days. When first hatched, the nymph is microscopic in size and transparent. As it ingests blood, it enlarges and gradually darkens. Adult lice look much like a sesame seed when mature.
After each treatment, checking the hair and combing with a nit comb to remove nits and lice every 2–3 days may decrease the chance of self–reinfestation. Continue to check for 2–3 weeks to be sure all lice and nits are gone.
Continue to check hair and use the nit comb to remove nits and lice every 2 to 3 days for 2 to 3 weeks. This process should be done for as long as nits and lice are still found on the head. Many lice medicines recommend a second treatment in 9 to 10 days.
Can someone have nits but no lice? It may be possible to have nits but no lice. If a person cannot find any nymphs or adult lice in the scalp and the nits are more than a quarter of an inch from the scalp, these may be dead and from an old infestation. However, the lice could be in hiding.
A mild case of lice generally means that it was discovered early, before symptoms start. When there are just 1 or 2 bugs active the hair who have laid several nits, but those nits haven't really begun to hatch yet, that is a mild case.
Use heat. Wash any items used or worn by the person in hot water, and dry them on high heat. Lice and nits die when exposed to temperatures higher than 130 F for more than 5 minutes. Wash anything that touched the person's skin or scalp, including jackets, hats, scarves, pillowcases, sheets, and headbands.
Not everyone feels lice moving around on their scalp, but some people do. Dr. Garcia says that most of her patients say they “don't feel anything,” but others may get a creepy, tickling sensation as lice move around their head.
Head lice cannot live for long on pillows or sheets. It is possible for a live louse that has come off a person's head to crawl onto another human host who also puts their head on the same pillows or sheets.
Vinegar contains properties that kill and get rid of nits and lice. This mixture should be applied directly to the whole scalp. Mix 1 cup of vinegar with 1 cup of warm water. Next, distribute this mixture onto the scalp and cover your hair with a hair cap.
Fresh eggs are a golden-brown colour and are plump and shiny before they hatch. Hatched or empty eggs are white and flat. As the hair grows the eggs are further down the hair shaft. It is important to look out for both brown nits and their white eggs.
If you think you have lice, call your doctor. Your doctor can recommend a medicated shampoo, cream rinse, or lotion to kill the lice. These may be over-the-counter (OTC) or prescription treatments.
Booklice, sometimes known as psocids, are not actual lice. These tiny insects resemble lice in appearance, but they don't consume blood. Instead, they live on mold and fungi. In terms of appearance, they can be translucent white, gray, or brown, and are often confused for adult bed bugs.
Many people with head lice have no symptoms at all. It's impossible to diagnose head lice based on symptoms alone since the only symptom that matters is the presence of lice. However, experiencing the following symptoms suggests it is time to check the scalp: frequent unexplained itching of the head or scalp.
DO NOT over treat. Some louse shampoos can be neurotoxic and overuse can damage the nervous system. Wear gloves when treating more than one person with head louse shampoo. If more than two treatments are required to control an infestation, talk to the School Nurse(s) or the Health Department about alternative methods.
1. Place the patient in Contact Isolation until 24 hours after initial treatment. 2. A gown and gloves are required.
After treatment, your skin may still itch for a week or more. This is because of your body's reaction to the lice. Follow-up care is a key part of your treatment and safety.
Head lice can take some time to get rid of completely. For example, most treatments for lice only kill live lice and leave the eggs unaffected. This means multiple treatments may be necessary to kill all the lice from the eggs.