What do lice look like on eyelashes? - briefly
Lice on the eyelashes appear as tiny, flat, gray‑white insects about 1–2 mm long, usually attached near the base of each lash and moving slowly. Their eggs, called nits, are small, white, oval structures firmly glued to the lash shaft.
What do lice look like on eyelashes? - in detail
Eyelash lice are tiny, laterally flattened insects about 0.8 mm long. Their bodies are oval, resembling a miniature brown beetle. The exoskeleton appears gray‑brown to dark brown, sometimes with a slightly translucent quality that lets underlying blood vessels be faintly visible. Six legs end in claw‑like tarsi, allowing a firm grip on the hair shaft. The head bears short antennae and compound eyes that are barely discernible without magnification.
Key visual markers include:
- Nits (eggs): Oval, white‑to‑cream shells attached firmly to the base of each lash, often resembling dandruff but thicker and immobile.
- Movement: Adults crawl slowly along the lash, occasionally pausing to feed on tiny amounts of blood from the eyelid margin.
- Distribution: Infestations concentrate on the outer third of the eyelid, where lashes are longest; multiple lice may be seen on a single hair.
- Bleeding spots: Small, reddish punctures appear where the insect pierces the skin to obtain blood, sometimes leaving a faint halo of irritation.
Under a magnifying lens, the lice’s segmented abdomen shows faint dark bands, and the abdomen may appear slightly swollen after a blood meal. Their legs are noticeably longer than those of head lice, providing the leverage needed to navigate the curved surface of the eyelash. The combination of tiny brown bodies, attached white eggs, and localized redness distinguishes eyelash infestation from other ocular conditions.