STDs
Pubic Lice (Crabs): Symptoms & Treatment
January 6, 2020
Symptom Guides > STDs > Pubic Lice (Crabs): Symptoms & Treatment

by
Gila Lyons
Gila Lyons' health writing has appeared in The New York Times, Oprah Magazine, Vice, Cosmopolitan, Health Magazine, Healthline, and other publications. Connect with her at www.gilalyons.com, Twitter, Instagram, and Linkedin.
This article was medically reviewed by K Health's VP Medical, Dr. Edo Paz, MD.
If you’re feeling intense itching around your pubic area that will just not go away, you might be harboring pubic lice, also known as crabs. If you have pubic lice it doesn’t mean you have poor hygiene–it just means you’ve shared bedding, towels, or had close personal contact with someone who has them. According to Planned Parenthood, about 3 million people in the U.S. get pubic lice every year.
Pubic lice are tiny insects that resemble miniature ocean crabs; they live in pubic hair and skin and subsist on your blood. While that might sound scary and feel extremely uncomfortable, pubic lice are not dangerous, and are fairly easy to treat. The genital area is the most common place to find pubic lice (hence their name), but they can also live in other coarse hairs on the body, like the eyebrows, eyelashes, beards, mustaches, and chest and armpit hair. However, crabs are a different type of insect from head and body lice, and their treatment differs as well. You can treat pubic lice with over-the-counter or prescribed rinses of the affected area. Treatment should also include a thorough, hot washing of all bedding and clothes.
In this article, we will discuss:
“The genital area is the most common place to find pubic lice (hence their name), but they can also live in other coarse hairs on the body.”
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by
Gila Lyons
Gila Lyons' health writing has appeared in The New York Times, Oprah Magazine, Vice, Cosmopolitan, Health Magazine, Healthline, and other publications. Connect with her at www.gilalyons.com, Twitter, Instagram, and Linkedin.
This article was medically reviewed by K Health's VP Medical, Dr. Edo Paz, MD.
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