What Do Head Lice Look Like?

These pictures will help you spot lice, nits, and eggs

Lice can look like dandruff or other conditions of the scalp. Identifying head lice often depends on spotting the nits (eggs), which look like tiny yellow, tan, or brown spots stuck on the hair shaft near the scalp.

This article has pictures of what head lice look like. You will learn how to tell if your child has live lice or just lice eggs. Once you know for sure that your child has lice, you can get treatment.

What Lice Eggs (Nits) Look Like

Lice on the hair - stock photo


hirun

The easiest way to identify a lice infestation is to know what the eggs look like. Lice are good at hiding, but the eggs remain adhered to the hair shaft until they are manually removed.

Lice eggs are called nits. They are very tiny—about the size of a knot in a strand of thread. They are oval-shaped, usually a yellowish-white color, and are firmly attached to the sides of hair shafts. They can easily be confused with dandruff, scabs, or even droplets of hair spray.

Some people only use "nits" to refer to empty egg casings while "lice eggs" is used for eggs that can hatch (viable eggs). However, other people use "nits" to refer to both viable lice eggs and empty egg casings.

Lice eggs take around six to nine days to hatch. After that, it only takes about seven days for baby lice (nymphs) to grow into adult lice and start the cycle over again. Lice have a lifespan of three to four weeks.

Having nits does not necessarily mean that your child has live lice because some nits are actually empty egg casings. Others are dead and only have non-infective lice embryos inside.

Nits that are close to your child's scalp are the most likely to be infective. They're also the ones that are thought to hatch into live lice.

Continuing to get new nits even after you have removed them from your child's hair is also a sign that your child has live lice and needs lice treatment.

A live louse will typically lay up to eight eggs a day. If your child only has a few nits, they likely do not have an active lice infestation.

Can My Child Go to School if They Have Lice?

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is against "no-nit" policies that exclude children from school when they have lice.

In fact, the AAP now states that "no healthy child should be excluded from or allowed to miss school time because of head lice."

This might come as a surprise to caregivers who have had their kids sent home from school because of head lice.

What Lice Nymphs Look Like

Head lice egg, nymph and adult next to a U.S. penny

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

An immature louse is called a nymph. The nymphs look the same as the adult lice, but they are smaller. A nymph is around the size of a pinhead.

The picture above shows a nymph compared to an egg and an adult louse.

Head Lice Doctor Discussion Guide

Get our printable guide for your next doctor's appointment to help you ask the right questions.

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What Lice Looks Like in the Hair

Live Louse on Hair. Vincent Iannelli, MD

This picture shows a child with a head lice infestation.

Live lice can be difficult to spot. The texture, color, and thickness of your child's hair can also make it harder to spot lice. A louse might be easier to see on the head of a child with lighter, thinner, hair than in a child with dark, coarse, thick hair.

Being able to identify head lice will also help you make an informed choice about treatment. Usually, you only need to treat your child with a lice shampoo when you see live lice. If you only see lice eggs and no live lice, you just need to carefully remove them.

What Adult Lice Look Like

Adult head louse
arlindo71 / Getty Images

This is an up-close picture of an adult head louse. Mature head lice are about the size of a sesame seed.

You can clearly see the six legs that a louse has. If you magnified the image more, you might be able to see the small claws on the end of the legs that lice use to grasp the hair.

Summary

Looking at pictures of live lice and nits can help you learn to spot them on your child's head.

Knowing what head lice look like will also help you tell distinguish them from other conditions that kids get. For example, you can easily mistake flakes of dandruff for a head lice infestation if you don't know what to look for.

If you spot lice eggs in your child's hair, go ahead and pick them out. If they have live adult lice, you'll need to use a prescription or over-the-counter (OTC) treatment to kill them. You may need to repeat these steps until all the lice are gone.

4 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Head lice frequently asked questions (FAQs).

  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Head lice biology.

  3. Devore CD, Schutze GE. Head licePediatrics. 2015;135(5):e1355-e1365. doi:10.1542/peds.2015-0746

  4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Head lice treatment.

By Vincent Iannelli, MD
 Vincent Iannelli, MD, is a board-certified pediatrician and fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Iannelli has cared for children for more than 20 years.