Pubic lice

Pubic lice are treated with medicated creams or shampoos that kill the lice.

Usually you'll need to apply the treatment over your whole body and leave it on for a few hours before washing it off. You'll need to repeat this a week later to make sure all the lice have been killed.

You may be asked to come back to your doctor's chamber or sexual health clinic once you've finished treatment, so they can check that it has worked.

Your partner or partners should also be treated, even if they do not have any symptoms.

Resistance

Some pubic lice can be resistant to treatment. This means the lice will not be affected by a particular medicine. If your symptoms don't settle, you may need to try more than one type of treatment.

Talk to your doctor or local sexual health clinic if your first treatment hasn't worked.

Treatment of lice in the eye area

Treating lice near the eyes is usually different from treating them elsewhere on the body, since certain creams and lotions are not safe to use so close to the eyes. Lice in this area can instead be removed with tweezers, or Vaseline can be used to suffocate them before removal.

Things you can do

While you're being treated for pubic lice, there are some things you can do to help stop them from spreading.

Do

• wash your clothes and bedding on a hot wash of 50 degrees or higher, have them dry cleaned, or seal them in a plastic bag for at least a week. This will help kill any lice.
• vacuum your mattress to remove any lice

Don't

• do not share clothes, bedding or personal hygiene items, including razors
• do not have any close body contact, including sexual contact, with anyone during treatment

How pubic lice are passed on

Pubic lice spread through close body contact with someone who has them, most commonly through sexual contact.

The lice crawl from hair to hair but cannot fly or jump. They need human blood to survive, so they generally only leave one body to move onto another person.

Pubic lice do not live on other animals, such as cats or dogs.

If you or your partner has pubic lice, you should avoid having sex, whether vaginal, anal or oral, and avoid close bodily contact as well. Keep this up until you have both finished treatment, including any follow-up treatment.

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অন্যান্য যৌনবাহিত সংক্রমণ (STIs)

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