Head Lice Eggs

Head lice are small parasitic insects of the size of a sesame, and can be tan to grayish white in color. The body of a head louse can be divided into three parts, head, thorax and abdomen. It has six legs, all equipped with claws that are employed to cling to the hair shaft firmly. The wingless parasite thrives on the humid and warm environment of the scalp. Head lice use their special needle like mouth parts to pierce the skin of the scalp, in order to suck blood. The scientific name of head louse is Pediculus humanus capitis, and the medical term used for head lice infestation is 'pediculosis'. Head lice cannot burrow the skin and they do not carry any contagious disease. However, the itching caused by the lice bites can be quite irritating, and continuous scratching of such bites can lead to local infection. The insects most commonly spread from one person to another through direct head to head contact, for which head lice infestation is more common among the young children.

An adult female head louse lays several eggs in a day, and glues them firmly to the hair shafts. The eggs, also called nits look like tiny dots attached to the hair shaft. Initially, the eggs are white in color, and later on, they turn brown, before hatching. On an average, an adult female head louse lays about 7 to 8 eggs per day and glue them on the hair shaft close to the scalp. The eggs' hatch time is usually 7 to 10 days. Soon after hatching, the nymph need to feed on blood to survive. Once, the eggs are hatched, the empty white egg shell can be still found to attach to the hair shaft. The empty egg shell look very similar to dandruff, but do not fall off easily unlike dandruff. Their life span is approximately 10 days.

Lice Eggs Life Cycle

Its life cycle can be divided into three stages; nit, nymph and adult. The first stage is the nit, which is the other name used for egg. As has been mentioned already, the eggs hatch within 10 days. The young lice are called nymph, which closely resemble the adult lice structurally, except for the size and color. The nymph are usually yellow to rust colored, and they are smaller than the adults. They become mature within 7 days after hatching, and shed their exoskeleton thrice before finally reaching adulthood. The adult lice are larger than the nymph and are brown in color. This entire head lice life cycle is completed in about one month. Head lice get dehydrated and so, cannot survive for a long time, once they fall off a host. The lifespan of an adult louse is about 30 days.

How to Get Rid of Lice Eggs?

Presence of these eggs can be easily identified by carefully examining the scalp and the hair shaft, and combing the hair with a fine toothed comb. You can also use special detection comb to look for these eggs. For easy detection, wet your hair and then comb the entire scalp and hair thoroughly and examine the teeth of the comb each time after combing. The hatched eggs can be confused with dandruff for the similarity of appearance. Though the hatched eggs look like dandruff, they attach quite firmly to the hair shaft unlike dandruff, that fall off quite easily.

To get rid of them, you can either opt for insecticides, wet combing treatment or silicon-based products, depending on the severity of the infestation. Physicians often recommend the use of medicated shampoos and lotions for head lice removal. The insecticidal products that are more commonly used for this purpose, usually contain, pyrethrins, permethrin and malathion. If the infestation is not very severe and you want to avoid the use of chemicals, then wet combing is the best option. This process is also quite simple, requires only to wet the hair and apply conditioner on it, before combing with a fine toothed comb for about half an hour.

Along with these treatment options, sometimes home remedies can also help to get rid of head lice. The more frequently used head lice home remedies are, olive oil, vinegar, coconut oil, mayonnaise, essential oils like, eucalyptus oil, tea tree oil, peppermint oil and garlic clove paste and lemon juice. Be sure to avoid close head to head contact with others, and share combs, hair brush, ribbons, towels, hat and other hair accessories.