Desperately need help to get rid of what I think are lice/nits

[specialk1215]

Help, please. I am beyond frustrated now. My eight year old daughter has what I think are nits... This started about a month ago when we found tiny (about the size of the full stop at the end of this sentence) beige things stuck to the base of her hair shaft usually around the nape of the neck, behind the ears and around her fringe. We have never once seen anything alive and never anything bigger than these tiny sticky things (presumably eggs?).

I have read a ton and spent the last month wetting her hair, putting conditioner in it and combing with the nitty gritty comb. I often have to pick them out with my fingernails as they are so sticky. Generally there are only half a dozen or so, but they never seem to leave for good.

We have just returned from holiday and I took her to the doctor who recommended I buy Hedrin. I used it two nights ago and then combed again yesterday and today. I think I found one little egg again yesterday, none today. However, my poor daughter has been rubbing her eyes a lot and I just noticed these same tiny eggs in her eyebrows and even worse, tons of them at the base of her eyelashes. Poor thing.

I read online and it said that I should use vaseline on her eyelashes twice a day for the next week to suffocate them. I tried to carefully brush through her eyelashes with a nit comb but it is just too difficult and the eggs are too sticky.

I am totally at my wits end.

I assume they are louse eggs, but if I never, ever see any live lice, what continues to lay these eggs? Even the doctor couldn't answer this one... I thought only mature lice could lay eggs, but we don't see any?!?! The eggs never get any bigger than a full stop. Any idea if this could be something else? The doctor we saw said there is nothing else it could be other than lice.

I am desperate to get past this as it has been a month now and both my daughter and myself are totally frustrated. I keep checking myself and don't see anything (my husband doesn't see anything on me either), and my son seems to have avoided it so far as well, but I think I am going to treat myself anyway.

Please someone, can you help me figure out how to get rid of this for good? Has anyone had to deal with lice eggs in the eyelashes? I know in the grand scheme this is quite minor, but I am getting really down about this.

Any advice is much appreciated. Thank you so much in advance!

How often are you combing? I'd try twice a day for a good ten mins each time. As for those by her eyes get back to the GP as she may give herself an infection or get very sore if she's rubbing a lot the poor lass. Do not put the Hedrin anywhere near her eyes, you should also comb through everyone elses hair in the home, just in case, hope you get rid of them very quickly.

If they are in her eyelashes, personally I think I'd have a word with the doctor.

If you can't get rid of the eggs, there must be lice around either on her, another member of the family or friends. If you have visitors, keep her hair tied/clipped back and ask her to keep away from their hair. When my daughter had it, she was honest with her friends, who were fine about it. It's worth going through everyone's hair in the family every couple of days, combing thoroughly with a nit comb, separating hair in many places and having a good look - often you will find them at the base of the skull and above ears.

My daughter has only had it once, just after we had the 2007 floods and our waterworks company was flooded, so we had very little water for washing. She did have brown/grey lice in her hair and I checked it every day in detail and actually got rid of them this way without any treatment.

Hope you manage to sort it out soon.

Don't freak out, this can be just one of those things, but it could be pubic lice and not head lice. They don't mind heads either and are more commonly found on eyelashes. Paraffin based ointments are available for eyelashes. Have a look at NHS choices for lice on eyelashes then go back to the doc and demand appropriate treatment.
Pubic lice don't just focus on the pubic area and can be transmitted non-sexually.