Head Lice - up close and personal

Todays subject, head lice. Have you started scratching yet? 

But I'm going to approach this from a slightly different perspective. We had managed to escape ever having them until last weekend, when a hair wash and conditioner with a nitty gritty comb produced 'things' from my daughters hair. 

It was difficult to see what exactly I had got out my daughters hair, although I couldn't think of what else they could be?! Although I wasn't expecting it, as there was no scratching, no signs. I tried having a look with my son's hand held microscope but this didn't give a clear view. 

So yes we took photos! My husband has taken some great reverse lens macro photos before in a previous post. So he worked his magic, and we could then definitely confirm they were head lice. 

WARNING - The information and photo below may make a few of you go ewww. 

At this detail the head louse looked amazing, what turned out initially to be an annoyance, turned into a positive experience. 

Head Louse - reverse lens macro photo

We were all fascinated by the little creature that had been living in my daughters hair, even down to her blood it had been drinking that we could still see inside it. It sparked off great discussion and information finding about head lice.

After studying the head louse, attached to it as we had become, it was time to clear my daughter of the head lice. A combination of a nitty gritty comb and Hedrin worked well. The whole family got treated just in case they were inhabiting anyone else's head too! 

A surprising factor was how long they stay alive for! About an hour after removing it from my daughters head,  and after being submerged in water, they were still alive. So although it's often not cited as being necessary, I did hot wash all bedding, hats etc... items that had been in contact with the hair just to try and prevent any re infestation from those items.