Having discovered head lice in my daughter's hair this morning before school, I read your article on headlice and nits.
However, I always thought that egg/nit is one and the same and that it hatches into a louse.
Am I wrong?
How do I recognise the egg rather than, as you say, a nit (empty shell), if I am wrong?
I hope I can clarify the difference between the egg and 'nit' for you.
The eggs contain the developing head lice and because these feed on blood sucked through the scalp they are always found firmly glued to the root of the hair.
They are dark cream in colour and because this is usually similar to the colour of the scalp they can be almost impossible to see with the naked eye.
Nits, on the other hand, are the empty eggshells from which the lice have hatched out. They are white in colour and may be found anywhere along a strand of hair.
The distance of the nits from the scalp gives an indication of how long the head lice infection has been present.
As hair grows at the rate of one centimetre per month, a nit 2cm from the scalp was therefore laid about 2 months ago.
The NetDoctor Medical Team