Experts Reveal “Worst Ever” Cases of Headlice as a Reminder of the Importance to Treat Straight Away

Warning, these headlice images are not for the queasy. We dare you to get through this entire article without scratching your head!

If you spot them quickly enough, headlice can be removed without too much fuss. An annoyance, sure, but not something to lose your cool about if you treat them effectively and repeat within ten days to pick up any stragglers.

But ignore them at your peril, as they will rapidly get out of hand and before you know it the lice will quickly multiply and you’ll be left with a much bigger problem to solve. And the poor child will have to scritch and scratch and miss out on school in the meantime.

All signs suggest starting treatment right away, and these photos released by headlice expert and NitNot founder Eileen Hutchinson really drive that point home.

“This shows a really bad infection caused by head lice infestation,” she explains. “It’s important to take head lice seriously as an infection like this can be dangerous.”

Eileen adds: “We don’t usually see cases this bad at the clinic, especially with several families seeking help for horrendous infestations like we are dealing with now over the phone and via messenger.”

Ms Hutchinson shared the heartbreaking images to remind parents that help is available, no matter how bad the situation gets.

“Parents struggle to deal with it themselves when it gets to this stage. These families have been dealing with reoccurring infestations for over a year now and it’s the whole family suffering.”

“I have spoken to these parents and supported them on treatment, the family in photo one only spotted the infestation after the dad saw them crawling on his beard in the mirror.

“Thick hair easily covers them and they like to be close to warm moist scalps behind the ears and the nape of the neck where it’s hard to spot them.

“People don’t realise how difficult they can be to get rid of, they don’t think they could still have lice after treating, but not all treatments are 100 percent effective.”

Sharing her advice on how to avoid headlice, Ms Hutchinson says:

“Use a separate brush for every member of the family to avoid spreading, and advise children not to share brushes with friends when back at school. Keep long hair tied up in a bun, plait, or a ponytail at the nape of the neck. Children find it hard to keep a distance even in lockdown and long hair can catch lice easily.”

You can find excellent advice on removing headlice mechanically and chemically at the NSW Health website here.

Source: NitNot