Properly Diagnosing Head Lice

When it comes to diagnosing a case of head lice, it isn’t as cut and dried as many think. And as a result there are misdiagnoses abound.

First of all there can be several harmless things you might come across when examining the scalp that aren’t an indication of the presence of lice. However, they are quite often mistaken for them.

For the purposes of this article, let’s take a look at problem that head lice pose. Let’s gain an understanding to how to go about diagnosing a head lice infestation so you to make a proper diagnosis before possible taking any drastic action such as using a pesticide to eliminate this annoying problem.

First off, you will need to be able to recognize the symptoms that may indicate a case of head lice. The lice are parasitic and as such feed on blood to survive. The live on the scalp and prolifically reproduce, increasing the problem.

The irritation that occurs is when these lice feed and cause you to feel intense itching. Lice move about by crawling (they don’t hop or fly) and many people who have head lice can feel them moving about on their head, causing the itching, tickling, crawling sensation.

Although these symptoms may certainly indicate that there are head lice present, you will still want to manually (visually) confirm the diagnosis.

Actually finding lice on the head can be somewhat difficult. Even though the critters are unable to fly or jump, they can crawl very fast, plus they will tend to avoid light. Thus, a close evaluation using a bright light will quickly scatter them for darker cover when you try to locate them.

Not to worry though there is an easier method to use. As mentioned earlier, head lice reproduce at a very high rate so the thing to do is find and identify the eggs that the lice leave behind.

These eggs the head louse produces are known as nits. They are smooth and oval-shaped. They attach to the hair follicle and they are roughly the size of a small sesame seed. Usually a light whitish color or dark brown, they are attached to the hair follicle with a type of natural glue that the louse creates. If the nits are not glued in (very close to the scalp) within about a centimeter of the scalp, they won’t have the body warmth necessary to successfully survive/incubate.

The lice themselves are of a translucent color when they are born, but they will quickly take on a reddish-brown hue after feeding on blood. Anatomically, they have six legs and a wide lower body. Their legs are equipped with tiny claws that allow them to latch on to your hair and your scalp.

If you find evidence that lice have infested a family member’s head, you need to eliminate the problem as soon as possible and make certain that you examine everyone in the household in order to ensure that the infestation is quickly contained.

Not all cases of head lice can be easily solved with mild shampooing. Sometimes you may need to resort to one of the over the counter pesticides that you can buy to rid yourself of the problem.

As with any medicated product be sure to use caution, and be sure to read the directions carefully - making sure that you follow through every step. Don’t short cut or skip any of the directions that the product recommends. You don’t want to have to use the herbicide twice as it can be harmful to your health.

Also, use even more caution when using pesticide treatments with children, because they are more susceptible to the harsh effects of the lice pesticides.

If one of your children has become afflicted with a case of head lice during the school year, you should contact the school officials in order to ensure that the infestation is contained within the school. You should also keep your child out of school until you can confirm that the lice are gone.