When should I see my doctor? If you think you have caught
There is no test for lice, but you may see the lice crawling in your body hair. Your GP or sexual health clinic will look for visible evidence of the lice. Some sexual health clinics can find the lice and look at them under a microscope.
Treatment for pubic lice
The main treatments for pubic lice are medicated creams or shampoos that kill the lice. You usually need to use the treatment on your whole body and leave it on for a few hours before washing it off. You'll need to repeat this again a week later to make sure all the lice have been killed.
Animals cannot get or spread pubic lice. If left untreated, the affected area will continue to itch. Repeated scratching of the infested area can result in other serious skin infections.
Are pubic lice dangerous? No, pubic lice won't cause serious health concerns. Usually, the main problems that the lice cause are itching and discomfort. You may get a bacterial infection if you end up scratching your skin a lot.
Pubic lice (Pthirus pubis) have three stages: egg, nymph and adult. Eggs (nits) are laid on a hair shaft . Females will lay approximately 30 eggs during their 3–4 week life span. Eggs hatch after about a week and become nymphs, which look like smaller versions of the adults.
Pubic lice are easy to treat — you usually don't even need a doctor's prescription. You can get over-the-counter pubic lice treatment at a drugstore, or from your nurse or doctor.
To kill any lice or nits remaining on clothing, towels, or bedding, machine-wash and machine-dry those items that the infested person used during the 2–3 days before treatment. Use hot water (at least 130°F) and the hot dryer cycle.
Usually, the symptoms of pubic lice start about 5 days after you get them. Some people never have symptoms, or they think the symptoms are caused by something else (like a rash). The most common symptom of pubic lice is intense itching in your pubic area.
They hatch after 7-8 days. Over the next 13 to 17 days the larvae will change skin three times before reaching adulthood. Adult lice live for just under a month. Pubic lice can only survive and reproduce on people.
Around 1 to 2 of every 100 Australians are estimated to have public lice.
Avoid sleeping in the same bed as the person with an active lice infestation. Avoid sitting where the person with lice has sat in the past two days. Wash linens and clothing in hot water and dry on high heat. Place stuffed animals, pillows and items that cannot be washed into an airtight bag for two weeks.
If you have pubic lice (crabs), you may experience intense itching in your genital region. Pubic lice can spread to other areas with coarse body hair, including the: Legs. Chest.
Pubic lice are small, crab‑like insects that are grey or brown‑red. They live in pubic hair, but can be on other body parts with hair (like the chest, armpit, face, eyelashes). Crabs can live for up to 24 hours on bedding, towels, and clothes.
You might notice really tiny dark brown specks in your underwear or your skin - this is lice poo (faeces).
The itching can get worse at night due to increased moisture in the area, temperature changes, bacteria, and increased awareness. There are certain conditions, such as pubic lice, in which the itching gets worse at night.
Pubic lice are usually sexually transmitted through direct skin-to-skin contact. Pubic lice do not voluntarily leave the body and will need to be treated with a cream or lotion that contains permethrin.
A common misunderstanding is that infestation can be spread by sitting on a toilet seat. This isn't likely, since lice cannot survive away from a warm human body. Also, lice do not have feet designed to walk or hold onto smooth surfaces such as toilet seats.
Infection rates used to be as high as 10%, but the pubic louse has a new enemy: bikini waxing. Removing the louse's habitat (hair) means that it has nowhere to go, so even if your partner has it, they won't walk across to you.
How soon do symptoms appear after exposure? Some people may not have symptoms, particularly with the first infestation or when the infestation is light. It may take 4-6 weeks for itching to appear the first time a person has head lice.
Pubic lice found on children may be a sign of sexual exposure or abuse. Occasionally, pubic lice may be spread by close personal contact or contact with articles such as clothing, bed linens, or towels that have been used by an infested person.
Anybody can get pubic lice if they have close, personal contact with someone who has them. About 3 million people in the U.S. get pubic lice every year.