healthscotland.com

Head lice: Information for parents (reprinted 2011)

Facts about head lice

• Head lice are small, six-legged wingless insects that live on the hair close to the scalp where it is warm and easy for them to feed.
• They are pin-head size when they hatch, less than match-head size when fully grown and are difficult to see in the hair.
• The eggs are glued individually to hairs near the scalp. Unhatched eggs are dull in colour and hard to see, but after the lice have hatched the empty egg sacs – called ‘nits’ – are white and easy to see. Many people mistake the empty egg sacs or nits for head lice when they are actually evidence of a previous infection of head lice.
• Head lice are easily missed in dry hair and do not necessarily cause itching. There are often only 10 lice or less on a head.
• Head lice can’t fly, jump or swim. They spread from person to person by climbing swiftly along hairs during close head to head contact.
• Head lice are not fussy about hair length or condition – clean hair is no protection.
• Head lice are not harmful.
• Head lice infection is common. Anyone with hair can get them, but children, who put their heads together a lot, tend to get them more often.