To cure pubic lice forever you have to be serious.
Indulging is easy, but not enough. Since pubic lice infestation is considered a sexually transmitted disease, you must also treat your partner or you will recover immediately. A person could have pubic lice and not even know it, so don’t call your partner a liar if he insists he’s clean. If you have it, your partner has it, end of story. If your partner does not consent to treatment, it is not worth treating yourself. And it is better if both are treated at the same time. If you receive treatment but then have a single encounter with an infected person, you should be treated again.
And, since we’re talking about STD exposure, if you’ve gotten pubic lice, you may have gotten a second STD and should be checked out by a health professional since STDs, like people, come in pairs.
As for treatment, there are 3 options here: chemical treatment, shaving, and heat death.
Chemical treatment is probably the most popular. The same chemicals that treat head lice treat pubic lice. You don’t need to see a doctor for this, although, as I said, it’s a good idea to get checked for other sexually transmitted diseases. You can buy over-the-counter lice treatments, such as Nix or Rid, or generic equivalents. Of course, you should treat the pubic area, not the head. Since lice live around hair, you should treat any hairy areas, including the pubic area, adjacent inner thighs, and back toward the buttocks. The hairier you are, the larger the area you will have to treat. It is very important to leave the product for the time indicated on the package. The chemicals do not kill on immediate contact.
Shaving is another option that you can use alone or in combination with a chemical treatment. Shave all pubic hair, hair from adjacent thighs, and towards the buttocks. You will probably need to repeat this every few days for a week or two to make sure no lice have been missed.
For patients who are not interested in shaving or concerned about the use of chemicals, a third option is heat treatment. The Lousebuster was developed for the treatment of head lice, but could also be used on other areas of the body. Just make sure you don’t burn yourself with this hot air device. The hot air works by drying out the lice and their eggs, ultimately killing them by dehydration. Again, a single treatment may not be effective.
In addition to the measures above, you’ll want to wash all bedding, towels, and clothing in hot water. Avoid sharing these items with other people, especially children.
So how do you know if you’re cured?
For starters, how did you diagnose yourself in the first place? You probably had itching in your genital area and then found small crab-like bugs in your pubic area or groin. Or maybe you saw little black dots in the snout area that seemed to move.
To answer the question, when you have thoroughly treated yourself, washed your bedding, towels, and clothes, and have had no symptoms or seen lice for at least two weeks afterwards, you can be considered cured.
Once again, make sure your partner does the same and give them this article to read.
