Few know what phthiriasis is. But if you clarify that this is a parasitic disease that is caused by pubic lice (or lice), the picture becomes clearer. To maintain health, it is necessary to have information on how these insects look, what signs indicate their appearance, how to avoid infection and how to cure an unpleasant disease.
Signs of pubic lice
Pubic lice have the following symptoms:
- Itching at the site of the bite, which can manifest itself in different ways - from a slight feeling of discomfort to severe itching and burning day and night.
- Violet blue spots with a diameter of 2 to 10 mm, visible to the naked eye. They are formed as a result of hemorrhages that appear at the site of the bite and the injection of secretions by parasites against blood clotting.
- An allergic reaction, expressed in the form of a rash, redness, swelling and tearing.
- The appearance of dark brown dots (parasite excrement) on the underwear.
- The presence of nits.
- Loss of appetite, nausea and insomnia.
Pubic lice in women are less common than in men, since they are generally more responsible for the hygiene of the genitals and the choice of a sexual partner. As a rule, in women, in addition to the pubic zone, the anal areas of the skin are also affected.
The nits of the ploshchitsa (the so-called pubic louse in another way), penetrate into the external organs of the woman's reproductive system, causing severe discomfort, expressed in itching, burning and skin rash.
General symptoms
Pubic lice spread quickly on the scalp. If they are localized on the face - on the eyelashes and under them, the patient feels itching even before the appearance of an adult. If the lice are not on the eyelashes, but on the pubis, the entire incubation period passes almost imperceptibly in 2-5 days.
Lice infestation is indicated by the following:
- constant itching, the more you scratch the infected area, the stronger the pain;
- irritation appears - the most striking symptoms;
- over time, each bite looks like severe inflammation, the bite may harden or become covered with scales;
- eczema appears on the eyelashes and near the labia, after getting rid of the parasite, they require separate treatment;
- hematomas appear, darkening of the skin near the bites does not go away for weeks;
- head lice symptoms only get worse without treatment and lead to allergies.
After the appearance of pubic lice, the patient's sleep is disturbed. Constant itching interferes with a normal lifestyle. Lice can be difficult to play sports or visit public pools, gyms or water parks. The longer the illness, the more difficult it is to hide the symptoms, and therefore treatment should be started as soon as the slightest suspicion arises.
How can you get pubic lice?
A louse can be found by visual inspection in the groin area. Pubic lice in men, in addition to the groin area, can infect hair in the chest area.
It's important to know where the lice come from to avoid getting them. The main methods of infection are considered to be sexual contact with a carrier of head lice and household infection, when pubic lice are transmitted to a healthy person in a bath, pool, beach and other public places.
Infection on trains and hotels can occur due to poor sanitation of bed linen and towels.
The following categories of people fall into the risk group:
- Hairdressers, bath attendants, tanning salons, swimming pool and train workers;
- Children and employees of preschool institutions, health camps;
- Persons living in barracks and hostels;
- Prison inmates;
- Women of easy virtue and their clients;
- Homeless people and vagrants.
Infection routes
Phthiriasis is sexually transmitted. Unlike many other infectious diseases, PPP can become infected with lice during protected intercourse. However, to justify parasites on the human body, a certain condition is necessary - the presence of hairs.
Fashion for frank intimate hairstyles reduced the risk of disease, stopped the scale of the epidemic. Lice are localized on the pubic part in the presence of hairs. Initially, they cling to the hair, gradually approach the skin, stick their head under the skin, practically stick to the body.
Ways of infection with parasites
Pubic lice are able to survive in warm sand. They penetrate to a depth of 1 m from the surface. The approach of a person is caught by smell, instantly come to life, make their way to the victim. You can get pubic head lice while relaxing on the beach.
Infection occurs through contaminated personal items - underwear, towels, dressing gowns, nightgowns, pajamas. However, the most common method is sexual intercourse.
Diagnostics
The main traditional diagnostic method is a thorough examination of the hairy parts of the body with the naked eye or using a magnifying glass. Pubic lice become more noticeable after saturation with blood, as their bodies increase in size and acquire a reddish tint.
You can also identify pubic lice in modern ways:
- With a Wood lamp - live inguinal lice, when illuminated by a Wood lamp, glow like white pearls, and empty dead nits look like gray shells.
- Applying the video dermatoscopy method - the doctor, using a digital video camera, takes pictures of the affected areas, which can then be examined in detail on a computer in an enlarged form.
If parasites are found, all family members must be examined and treated.
Prophylaxis
By adhering to a number of simple recommendations, you can protect yourself from planners:
- observance of banal rules of personal hygiene;
- iron thoroughly and change linen regularly;
- refuse to visit cheap hotels;
- refuse to try on underwear at the point of sale;
- have a permanent partner;
- be attentive in places such as swimming pools, saunas and gyms.
Even taking into account the fact that cases of infection with pubic lice are extremely rare, you need to take care of your health and exclude any methods of infection.
How to get rid of pubic lice?
There are several ways to treat pubic lice:
- Chemical - exposure to parasites with special drugs. Some disrupt the functioning of the nervous system, paralyze and kill lice, while others envelop them in an airtight film, leading to suffocation.
- People's - the use of home treatment methods.
- Mechanical - complete shaving of hair followed by antiseptic treatment.
The most effective, fastest and easiest way to remove phthiriasis is chemical. However, as a result of its use, the patient may experience a severe allergic reaction and poisoning of the body.
It must be used with caution after consulting a dermatovenerologist attending physician.
Boric ointment
An effective remedy for pubic lice - has antiseptic, antiparasitic and antifungal properties. The ointment should be applied to the affected area, and after 20-30 minutes, wash off the ointment and comb out the parasites with a fine comb.
The dosage and number of applications depends on the stage of the disease.
The use of 5% boric ointment to combat head lice is possible only after consultation with the attending physician, since the drug is contraindicated in children under 1 year old, pregnant and lactating women, people with skin diseases and kidney failure.
Nittifor
External remedy for pubic lice and nits - has insecticidal and antiparasitic properties. Nittifor is available in the form of a cream and a ready-to-use aqueous-alcoholic solution.
He is rubbed into the affected areas, after which, after a while, dead plots and nits are combed out with a fine comb. The cream is not recommended for children under 5 years of age, during pregnancy, in the presence of allergic reactions and acute inflammatory skin lesions.
An aqueous-alcoholic solution of Nittifor is applied to the affected skin, kept for 40 minutes and washed off with warm water. It is recommended to carry out 2 treatments at intervals of 5-7 days.
Medifox
It is produced in the form of a cream (gel) for hair and a 5% concentrate for making an emulsion. The active ingredient is permethrin, which actively fights against pubic lice and nits.
A 0.2% aqueous emulsion (4 ml of a 5% solution diluted in 100 ml of water) is prepared immediately before use and is liberally applied to the hairy parts of the body, and then after 20 minutes it is washed off with running warm water using soap or shampoo.
The product is not recommended for children under 1 year old, lactating women and persons sensitive to permethrin.
Other means
In addition to the above drugs, you can use:
- Lotion Pedikulen Ultra - when fighting pubic lice, the lotion is applied to the affected areas for 20-30 minutes, then washed off with water. After that, comb out lice and nits with a fine comb. After a week, the procedure is repeated.
- Shampoo and emulsion Pedilin - produced to combat head lice, but effectively fights against pubic lice. Apply with a cotton swab and rinse off after 25-35 minutes. If necessary, the procedure is repeated after two weeks.
- Medilis super - the drug is harmful to lice and nits. The mixture is applied for 20-30 minutes, and then washed off with soap. Dead lice and nits are combed out with a fine comb.
Traditional methods of treatment
Treatment of pubic lice at home should begin with complete hair removal from the affected area. Since lice are attached to the base of the hair, shaving does not guarantee that the parasites will be completely eliminated.
Let's consider the most common methods:
- Using apple cider vinegar the treatment is carried out within three days. Vinegar is diluted in 3% concentration and applied to the affected area for 30-60 minutes, then washed off. With this method, the hair does not need to be shaved off. Under the influence of acetic acid, lice and nits peel off from the hair and die.
- Birch tar - the course of treatment is 9-10 days. 1 tbsp. a spoonful of butter is mixed with 1 tbsp. a fly in the ointment. Treat the affected areas with the resulting mixture.
- Chemerichnaya water, which has antiparasitic properties - before use, wash and dry the infected areas, gently apply hellebore water to the hairy parts, rinse off after 10-15 minutes. It does not kill nits, but it significantly weakens their bond with the hair. Therefore, at the end of the procedure, you should comb out the nits with a special lice comb. In advanced cases, after 1-1.5 weeks, the procedure can be repeated. Care should be taken when working with hellebore water. It is contraindicated in pregnant and lactating women, children under 12 years of age.
- With kerosene lice can be removed in one day. A mixture is prepared from 1 part of kerosene and 10 parts of sunflower oil. The gauze soaked in this mixture is applied to the affected area, covered with cellophane film and fixed with a plaster. After three hours, the gauze is removed, the treated area is thoroughly washed and treated with a fat cream or oil.The kerosene treatment method should not be used during pregnancy, lactation, school-age children and skin irritation. It should be used with great care, since kerosene can burn the mucous surfaces of the genitals and skin.
Treating pubic lice on your own at home is not an entirely correct decision because not all alternative methods are effective and useful for the patient.
Pubic louse is often only a concomitant disease with other more dangerous sexually transmitted problems (syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, ureaplasmosis). Only a competent dermatovenerologist can cope with them.
Development cycle and reproduction process
Rapid reproduction is facilitated by the constant body temperature of the host. The female mates with the male many times throughout her life.
Eggs 0.65-0.67 mm in size have a convex pear-shaped shape. Daily fertility is 3, total - 50 nits. The plate lays an egg, which is attached to one hair with the help of a cementing secretion secreted by the insect. Adults (sexually mature individuals) and nits have a high viability - they live in kerosene for up to 10 minutes, withstand a temperature of 50 ° C for 35 minutes.
Pubic lice
Nits develop within 4-8 days. The larva, outwardly similar to an adult insect, goes through three stages of molting in 10-12 days before forming an imago.
The female's lifespan is 14-15 days. With year-round breeding, the peak in the number of pubic lice occurs in September-November and February.
Pubic lice attach to the base of the hair with hooked articulated limbs and invade the follicles.
What do pubic lice look like?
Pubic lice have an inconspicuous yellow-gray color. They resemble small crabs up to 2-3 millimeters in size. Pubic lice live for about 25-30 days and feed on human blood. One individual lays about 50 eggs.
An accumulation of pubic lice nits can look like a large amount of dandruff on the outside, especially on the hairy part of the chest in men.
The appearance of the plow
The pubic louse is small, about 1-1.6 mm in length, sometimes slightly larger. She is brownish in color, almost imperceptible among the hair. The body is short, wide, with powerful legs. Under the microscope, the ploshchik looks like a crab: an almost diamond-shaped flattened body has a wide thoracic segment and sharply tapers towards the back of the abdomen.
Photo under a microscope
The carrion is inactive. Having fixed at the base of the hair close to the skin, it may not change its location for a long time, therefore it is sometimes mistaken for a mole. This way of life does not prevent her from quickly multiplying - during their short life, females manage to lay many eggs. Eggs (called nits), spindle-shaped, almost transparent, 0.5 mm in length. The female firmly attaches the nits to the hairs with a sticky secretion.
Pubic louse feeds exclusively on human blood, biting it about 2 times a day. When bitten, she injects an enzyme into the wound along with saliva, which prevents blood from clotting, which leads to itching. Without the blood of its host, the louse cannot withstand 24 hours, but outside the human body it can fall into a state of suspended animation for several months.
Consequences of pubic lice
Lice do not pose a danger to humans, but due to constant scratching, the integrity of the skin is disrupted. If left untreated, damage can develop into eczema, which in turn can cause secondary sexually transmitted infections, boils and abscesses.
When pubic lice settle on the eyelashes, inflammation of the edges of the eyelids (blepharitis) and inflammation of the mucous membrane of the eyes (conjunctivitis) can form.
Only timely diagnosis and individual treatment by a dermatovenerologist, taking into account the characteristics of each patient, will help to cope with this disease and the possible consequences.
Outcome
Having pubic lice causes more than just physical discomfort. For many, infection with ploshchiks is a shameful phenomenon, because of which the infected person may hesitate to contact a specialist.
Since self-diagnosis is difficult to carry out, a visit to a doctor is still required to make an accurate diagnosis. Treatment is not difficult, but you should not try to get rid of pubic lice on your own using alternative methods, some remedies can only harm and aggravate the situation.
Most likely complications
- Unbearable itching can cause scratching, which subsequently lead to allergic reactions, eczema.
- Phthiriasis creates favorable conditions for infection of the scratching sites with a secondary infection: first, pustules (pyoderma) appear on the affected areas, then through them the infection enters the lymph nodes and fatty tissue, provoking boils, abscesses. In patients with a history of complications, such manifestations often lead to blood poisoning.
- Pubic lice in 90% of cases accompanies other sexually transmitted diseases: gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia.
- Lice infestation on the eyebrows and eyelashes increases the risk of developing conjunctivitis and blepharitis, a recurrent inflammation of the eyelid rim. These complications are especially common in children.
Pubic lice on the eyelashes is a symptom of an advanced form of the disease.
