Lice vs. Mites

🪳 Lice

• Belong to the insect group: Insects

• They are true insects, like ants or beetles

• Have 6 legs, segmented bodies, and are visible

🔬 Mites

• Belong to the arachnid group: Arachnids

• Related to spiders and ticks

• Have 8 legs (as adults) and are usually microscopic

⚖️ Simple way to think of it:

• Lice = insects 🐜

• Mites = spider relatives 🕷️

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So they’re actually completely different branches of the animal world, not just different types of the same thing.

🪳 Lice (head lice)

• Type: Head lice

• Where they live: On the scalp and attached to hair strands

• Size: Visible to the naked eye (about sesame seed size)

• What they do: Crawl around and bite the scalp to feed on blood

• Symptoms:

  
  

  • Intense itching

  • Feeling something moving

  • Nits (eggs) stuck to hair shafts

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• Contagious? Yes, spreads easily person-to-person

👉 With lice, you can usually see them or their eggs if you look closely.

🔬 Mites

• Common type: Demodex mites

• Where they live: Inside hair follicles or skin pores

• Size: Microscopic (you can’t see them without magnification)

• What they do: Feed on oils and dead skin

• Symptoms (if overgrown):

  
  

  • Mild itching or irritation

  • Sometimes redness or skin issues

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• Contagious? Usually not in the same way as lice

👉 Most people already have these naturally, and they usually don’t cause noticeable movement sensations.

⚖️ Key differences

• Visibility: Lice = visible / Mites = microscopic

• Movement feeling: Lice can feel like crawling during the whole day; mites usually don’t during the day but at night you will start to feel them moving around.

• Location: Lice stay on hair/scalp surface; mites live inside pores

• Spread: Lice spread easily; mites are normally already present