One of the most frustrating things can be having head lice, even more so if riddance is ineffective. Knowing the timing of the hatching of their eggs in the life cycle of lice holds great significance to eliminate these 'sticky' insects once and for all from your life.

The Life Cycle of Lice

Head lice are blood-sucking insects that infest the hair and scalp of humans. Their main habitat is in the hair, with their eggs glued to single human hair shafts near the scalp. The eggs, also referred to as nits, are very small and usually resemble tiny yellowish, tan, or brown spots.

The entire life cycle of head lice goes through the following three stages:

Egg(nit) Stage: At this stage, the eggs are laid onto the hair shafts near the scalp by adult female parasites. Investigations have reflected that under optimal temperature and humidity conditions provided by the scalp, they can be laid within 1 centimetre from it.

Nymph stage: The nymphs appear seven to ten days from the hatching of the eggs. Immediately after emerging, the nymph must re-feed on blood within hours so as not to die out. After coming out of nits, the nymphs mature to be adult lice in about 9-12 days.

Adult Stage: Adults live for approximately 30 days on the human head. During this period, females lay around 6 eggs per day.

Timing Your Treatment

Effective treatment of head lice is hinged on breaking their life cycle. Timing your treatment correctly will catch the lice nymphs, along with the remaining unhatched or just about to hatch eggs, since they have a 7-10 day duration before they grow into mature lice.

Here are some critical things to keep in mind:

Repeat Treatments: Most over the counter and prescription treatments recommend a second application 7-10 days after initial treatment. This is for killing the nymphs which have since hatched, and also to break the cycle of re-infestation.

Combing and Removal: Regular combing using a fine-tooth nit comb physically removes both live lice and the nits. Such practice should be continued every day for at least 2 weeks to ensure all are completely removed.

Environmental Cleaning: Wash and dry on hot all bedding, clothing, and items that possibly contacted the infested person's hair over the last 48 hours. If items can't be washed, seal them in a plastic bag for 2 weeks to kill remaining lice or eggs.

Preventive Measures: The close contacts of the person with lice should be identified and checked for lice and nits and be treated to avoid re-development of lice infestation.

While understanding when lice eggs hatch is an important factor in timing your home treatments, it can still be difficult to eradicate all lice and their eggs. These days there are professional lice clinics available to help professionally treat head lice. At our clinic in Elsternwick we provide a guaranteed service that will grant you peace of mind. Professional head lice treatment will be effective at any stage in the life cycle, whether the eggs have hatched or not. The revolutionary heat device is designed to dehydrate and damage the eggs so they are no longer viable.

Be reminded that in fighting head lice, being proactive is key and we can help provide some tips on how to prevent and handle head lice re-infestations quickly and effectively.

Advantage Pharmacy Elsternwick can help take care of your head lice problems with a visit to our Head Lice Clinic. CLICK HERE to find out more or to book your convenient appointment today.

355 Glen Huntly Road, Elsternwick, VIC, 3185