What do Lice Look Like?

Perhaps, you have heard about the dangers of lice when studying at school, but if you don’t know what do lice look like, it will be hard to identify. Find out how to differentiate it from other insects.

Contents:

1 How to Identify Eggs?
2 What Do Head Lice Look Like?
3 Pubic Lice
4 Appearance of Hatched Insect
5 Blonde vs Dark Hair: Is There Any Difference?
6 Are Dead Insects Different?
7 Lice vs Dandruff: How to Identify?
8 What Does Lice Look Like On Dogs?

How to Identify Eggs?

If you are infested, there’s a high chance that you will find eggs first, as far as the pests themselves are very quick and sly. Typically, they are noticed when touching hairs near the scalp, being located not further than 5 mm from the skin. They are hard to detach from a hair, because an egg is fixed by glue-like substance. What about its appearance? This is an oval-shaped tiny object 1-2 mm long, and can be colored grey, white, yellowish or tan. After hatch, empty graying shell attached to hair is left.

This is an oval-shaped tiny object 1-2 mm long.

What Do Head Lice Look Like?

An adult parasite is a 3-4 mm creature with oval body and six legs. It has light-to-dark brown body and short antennas. Special claws allow clinging to hairs. Interesting to note: bugs look darker on people with dark hair. They can be observed not on scalp only: sometimes nits are visible when lying on neck and shoulders. Since the parasites are very fast and don’t like light, it is hard to catch their sight. To find a bug, use a flashlight and direct it on the scalp: you are likely to detect the insects due to fast and incoherent motions they do to flee.

Bugs look darker on people with dark hair.

Pubic Lice

This is a separate kind of parasites that usually lives on pubic or genital area of humans. Being also called “crabs”, pubic parasites can occasionally be observed on hairs of legs, beard, armpits and moustache. Such insects can be transmitted while having sex with an infected person, or lying on bed linens where an infected person slept.

Generally, this type of pests looks the same as insects living on head: brown body with six legs and claws. They are only more round-shaped, which makes them remind of crabs. Opposite to head lice, they are easier to detect by self-examination and harsher symptoms.

read: What Head Lice Are, and How to Exterminate Them?

Appearance of Hatched Insect

Nymphs are almost the same as adults, but they are a bit smaller (2-3 mm long), growing into mature creatures in about a week. Sometimes nymphs are a bit lighter than adults (white or grey). They are hard to identify due to extremely small sizes.

Blonde vs Dark Hair: Is There Any Difference?

In fact, the pests that live in brown and black hairs tend to be darker than those who’s host is a blonde. That’s due to higher levels of melanin in blood.

Are Dead Insects Different?

In fact a dead insect looks exactly the same as adult parasite, though its brown body may appear to be somewhat curved. Usually, dead bodies can be found on the floor (an insect that fell off may live 1-2 days only). They can also be observed on person’s head, clothes and shoulders.

Lice vs Dandruff: How to Identify?

Some people wonder: how do I differentiate between nits and pieces of dandruff, if they look alike? In fact, with closer examination, it is easy to identify what is what. Nits are 2-3 mm long and are firmly glued to hair – you cannot detach it without applying effort. They are not simply white, having grayish and yellowish color, and have drop-like shape. Dandruff is white, can be of different size, and looks like flakes 1-4 mm long.

Stay with your head down and shake it intensively: if you see a lot of white matter falling down, it is dandruff. Eggs won’t fall this way – they are fixed with glue-like substance.

Nits are 2-3 mm long and are firmly glued to hair.

What Does Lice Look Like On Dogs?

Dogs may have two kinds of pests infesting them, and one species that does not attack people is chewing lice. If you look at such parasite though a magnifying glass, you will see that it has a wide head and large jaws. Insects usually hide in dog’s fur close to coat.

read: Smart Lice Treatment: Basic Information

Now you know how to identify parasites. Look at the pictures in the Net, and you will definitely differentiate this parasite from others in case of infestation.