Each of us has repeatedly encountered a situation when he found white grains at the roots of the hair of the head. And doubts always creep in, is it dandruff or the unfortunate nits, the number of which will steadily grow every day? There are a number of signs that make it possible to distinguish between a simple peeling of the scalp and a parasitic disease – pediculosis. Our article will help you understand this issue, and understand how to distinguish dandruff vs lice.
What is dandruff?
Dandruff refers to excessive flaking of the top layer of the scalp for a long time. This is not an independent pathology, but a syndrome that develops with certain disorders in the body. It has the appearance of white oily scales of dead skin of various sizes and shapes, dotting the hair and shoulders. Not contagious, does not entail dangerous consequences.
The epidermis (upper layer of the skin) is constantly updated – this is the norm. However, in a healthy body, this happens almost imperceptibly, and under the influence of some adverse factors, the degree of peeling increases many times over. And it’s not just about diseases – dandruff can be provoked by:
- shampoo that does not suit the type of hair (overdries the scalp);
- non-compliance with the rules of personal hygiene (rare washing of hair);
- malnutrition (excess in the diet of fatty and sweet);
- abrupt change in ambient temperature;
- prolonged exposure to direct sunlight;
- aggressive products used to color or perm hair.
However, most cases of dandruff are a sign of a general problem in the body. A fungus, Pityrosporum ovale, always lives on human skin, the growth of which leads to the rapid death of the epidermis and its exfoliation.
Factors that stimulate the reproduction of the fungus:
- seborrheic dermatitis (more common among men (because the work of the sebaceous glands is determined by the “male” hormone – testosterone), debuts mainly in adolescence;
- psycho-emotional stress;
- chronic infectious diseases;
- immunodeficiencies;
- violations in the work of the endocrine system;
- hypovitaminosis;
- heredity.
Sometimes, when faced with the problem of excessive skin peeling for the first time, a person confuses it with pediculosis. Let’s consider what kind of pathology it is, in order to then figure out how to distinguish dandruff vs lice.
What is pediculosis?
This is a disease of a parasitic nature, the causative agent of which is a louse. Only one species of pathogen lives on the scalp – the head louse (Pediculus humanus capitis). It is a wingless insect 2-3 mm in size, unable to jump or fly. Holds firmly on the hair thanks to the claws on the legs, moves quickly. It feeds exclusively on blood: it pierces the scalp with its mouth apparatus, and sucks out blood.
A louse bite often goes unnoticed, because a special anesthetic substance enters the wound with the insect’s saliva. Itching occurs only in every 5th patient, and then not immediately, but after a while.
Life cycle of a parasite
A sexually mature female louse lays 3-8 eggs daily – nits, gluing them at one end to the hair root near the scalp with a special substance. The nit has the appearance of an oval formation up to 1 mm in size, with a lid. After 7-9 days, a larva emerges from the nit, which after another 8-10 days reaches puberty and can itself lay eggs. An adult lives up to 28 days.
It is interesting to know that after the larva leaves the egg, its shell remains attached to the hair, but already empty. Since the hair grows continuously, and the development of the embryo in the egg lasts about a week, empty eggs are not found near the skin itself, but at a distance of 1-3 cm from it.
Conditions of existence
Lice feel comfortable at a temperature of 28-30 °C – they move quickly, suck blood every 2 hours, and lay eggs. With a “cooling” of up to 20 °C, the vital processes of the insect slow down, but the individuals do not die. When the temperature drops to 10°C and below, they cannot exist and leave the host organism. They do not live outside of a person either – fasting for 2 days leads to the death of the parasite. High (over 30°C) and low (-20°C or less) temperatures will help to destroy insects.
Transmission routes
There is only one way of transmitting lice – with direct contact of the hair of an infected person with the hair of a healthy insect, the insect changes its host. Previously, it was believed that the sharing of personal hygiene items (comb, hair bands, hats) plays an important role in the spread of the disease, today it has been proven that the frequency of such transmission is negligible, and only sleeping in the same bed on shared bed linen matters., the use of a common pillowcase.
Children of preschool and primary school age are more likely to suffer from pediculosis – there are many cases when parents found lice in a child who had just returned from the garden.
Symptoms of pediculosis
The main symptom of the disease is the actual presence of adult insects and eggs in the hair. Lice “live” mainly in the temporal and occipital regions, that is, where the hairline is most developed.
- In some cases (from 18 to 34%), parasite bites are accompanied by itching, which occurs as a result of their saliva with allergic components in the composition entering the bloodstream.
- A person, trying to get rid of itching, combs the skin, after which traces remain, often covered with bloody crusts.
- Redness, papules (the so-called “papular urticaria”) are found at the bite sites.
- With a long course of the process, there are signs of chronic dermatitis or eczema.
If there are a lot of lice, the active processes of their vital activity lead to the formation of a “tangle”, which appears due to the gluing of the hair with exudate of a serous-purulent nature that stands out from the bites.
Dandruff vs lice
For a person who does not have information, who first encountered such a problem, skin flakes and nits are almost indistinguishable. Let’s try to figure out dandruff vs lice…
- The exfoliated epidermis is located along the entire length of the hair, and the nits are located exclusively at its base and 1-2 cm from the skin, since it is there that the temperature is optimal for their existence and development.
- The size and shape of dead epidermal flakes varies widely from fractions of a millimeter to entire layers, while louse eggs are all the same size – about 1 mm, have an ovoid shape.
- You can easily shake off dandruff from the hair, and then it is attached to it with an adhesive substance, so you will have to make an effort to remove it.
- When squeezing the egg with your fingers, a clicking, bursting sound will be heard, which is not typical for peeling elements.
- When washing the head, dandruff is removed from the surface of the skin and hair without residue, while parasite eggs remain firmly attached to their original places. The same applies to combing: the exfoliated epidermis is removed with a comb, while nits are not.
Can there be dandruff and lice at the same time?
For some reason, many believe that one person should suffer from either dandruff or head lice. It is important to understand that no, this is not the case – state data can be detected at the same time, for example:
- the young man could well suffer from seborrheic dermatitis, and get infected with pediculosis from his sister, who returned from the garden;
- a child with lice not yet detected developed dandruff after washing his hair with shampoo that did not suit him and dried out his scalp.
So yes, dandruff vs lice can be on the same head at the same time.
Dandruff after head lice treatment
Parents often pay attention to the fact that after treating the child’s head with anti-pediculosis drugs, the lice disappear, but instead of them, just a huge amount of dandruff appears. This is possible when using very aggressive agents for the treatment of parasitosis, or moderately aggressive, but applied incorrectly (in particular, if the drug was kept on the hair longer than the instructions require, which led to the drying of the skin or disrupted the sebaceous glands).
Basic Treatments
The treatment of this disease is etiotropic, that is, it is aimed at the destruction of lice at all stages of development. It is complex, includes 3 methods:
- mechanical (sometimes used independently, if only single individuals of lice are found in the hair; it consists in combing out parasites and their eggs from hair previously washed and treated with a solution of table vinegar with a frequent comb over oilcloth or white paper; children, especially boys, are sometimes shaved bald or short they cut their hair, but today it is impractical, since other – effective and sparing – methods of treatment have been developed);
- physical (destroy lice by exposure to temperature: wash bed linen in hot water or iron with a hot iron);
- chemical (use special insecticides in the form of shampoos, lotions, aerosols).
Effective treatment
Paranit is a highly effective modern treatment for pediculosis. The basis of this drug is 2 components: dimethicone and mineral oil. Both substances are widely used in cosmetology and pharmacology and are deadly for lice. The components of “Paranit” are distributed over the surface of the hair, enveloping it and clogging the holes of the parasites and their eggs through which they breathe, as a result of which both lice and nits quickly die. This anti-pediculosis agent is available in different forms: lotion, spray and shampoo. It has an oily texture, and does not drip from the surface of the hair.
For use in children from 1 year old, pregnant and lactating women, a special form of the drug has been developed – Paranit Sensitive, which acts gently and gently. To achieve the maximum effect, it is important not to save the product, but to generously apply it to each strand – this will not leave the insects a single chance of survival.
It is important to know that lice do not develop resistance to Paranit – repeated use will be as effective as the first.
Having in the arsenal of the modern drug “Paranit” you can not be afraid of pediculosis.
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