What is Lice Infestation?
Lice infestation is the skin infestation of small, wingless and blood-sucking insects in scalp and hairs. A single adult organism causing this infestation is called as a louse and eggs are called nits. Lice are bigger than the nits and they follow a complete cycle to convert from nit to a louse. At the initial stage of this cycle nits (louse eggs) hatch and release the lice which used to be very small and then grow into an adult one. An adult louse seems to be equal to a small dandruff flake in size.
Pre-school and school going children are most vulnerable to this infection. If you are a parent you should keep an eye on your kid’s hair growth as well as what else is growing in it.
It is a very common infection among children, so, if you observe this condition in your kid just do not get panic as this is the most usual situation that may every child experience once in their life. But this infection must be controlled at a proper time before it leads to a serious situation.
What Causes Lice Infestation?
This is a contagious infection and spreads very quickly from one person to another. You can get this infection by just crawling of any louse onto your head once. There are many factors which are responsible for this infestation and include;
-
- The most common way of this infection is the direct contact of the head with the head of an infected person.
- It can also spread from personal items such as comb, of an infected person when these come in contact with other people.
- Sharing of the same fabric with an infected person increases the chances of this infestation.
- The risk of this infection increases when someone is sharing a bed with an infected person. In this case, parents are also at risk when their children are infested.
- Sometimes these insects stay for some time on furniture or other household material and when someone comes in contact with these things infection is caused.
Related: 7 Common Foods and Medicines which Affect the Hair Growth
What Are The Symptoms?
The most common symptoms involve;
-
- Severe itching on the scalp that usually starts after six weeks approximately of infestation.
- Feeling lice moving on the scalp when they are in large number.
- Itchiness caused due to bites of lice can cause sores and scabs.
How to Diagnose This Infestation?
Mild infections can be diagnosed by yourself but if this infestation gets severe you need to consult the best general physician in Karachi, Lahore or other cities of Pakistan, so he/she can provide proper medical care according to the condition.
In mild infections, nits can be seen in hairs and if they have already been hatched before your attention then lice can also be seen on the scalp as well as in the hair threads. There is another way to check the presence of lice in hairs, which involves the running of a fine-toothed comb through hairs, starting from the scalp.
Hatched lice have light color but on the other hand, nits are dark colored. These can be easily distinguished from dandruff flakes and other debris in hairs, as nits seem to be glued with hair threads and cannot be separated easily.
Treatment
There are many treatments available for both types of infections either mild or severe.
-
- In case of mild infestation; usage of fine-toothed comb in hairs on a regular basis seems to be enough along with some anti-lice shampoos that are easily available in the market.
- In case of severe infestation; physicians prescribe some medications such as; pyrethrin, permethrin (Nix), Malathion, benzyl alcohol lotion or lindane.
A general physician can guide you about medicines and treatment for this problem. To find the best general physician in Lahore log on to Marham-find and consult a doctor. Use the medications as per directed by your physician and do not use any medication more than once at a time.
