Pubic lice

Lice or scabies? The itch is worse at night

Itching badly, worse in bed, and I cannot see anything obvious. Everything I read describes both and I cannot tell them apart.

evening_ferry 2 months ago

NoteMember experience, not medical advice. Symptoms overlap between infections and only a test can tell them apart.

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west_pier 1 month ago

The treatments overlap but are not identical, and the household advice differs a lot. Scabies usually means treating everyone in the household at the same time, which is not the case for pubic lice.

So it is worth getting the right answer rather than treating for both and hoping.

second_tuesday 1 month ago

Itching that is markedly worse at night is more typical of scabies. Scabies also spreads beyond the pubic area, classically to wrists, between fingers and around the waist, and often produces a rash rather than visible insects.

Pubic lice tend to itch in the area itself and you can usually find something: a louse, or eggs attached to the base of hairs.

apple_crate 1 month ago

Take a photo in good light if you can and bring it. A clinician looking at it settles this in a minute and you have already spent longer than that reading.

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