Dermatology - Body Lice

Dermatology - Body Lice 
Clothes is where body lice live, deposit their eggs, and then remove the eggs to feed on a human host. Body lice can only endure few hours apart from their human host. Interestingly, they are carriers of numerous systemic illnesses.

On the trunk and extremities, there are solitary or clustered papules (typically less than 1 cm) or papulovesicles. Scratching and rubbing can cause secondary changes such as lichen simplex, eczema, and excoriations. Excoriations are frequent, painful erosions that may become secondary infections, and they can heal with elevated or depressed scars and/or hyper- or hypopigmentation, particularly in darker-pigmented people.

Finding lice in textile seams is how the diagnosis is made. Atopic dermatitis, contact dermatitis, scabies, and severe cutaneous medication reactions are all included in the differential.

To delouse the patient, apply topical insecticides such as malathion, pyrethrin, or permethrin.
Teach patients how to clean their clothes and bedding by washing them in hot water with a lot of soap and changing their bedding frequently. For severe itching, apply strong topical glucocorticoids for a brief period of time. Additionally, keep an eye out for any systemic or secondary cutaneous diseases brought on by lice.