A rare case of bilateral Phthiriasis palpebrarum with crab louse

Abstract

Phthiriasis palpebrarum is a rare cause of blepharitis in which Pthirus pubis infests the eyelashes. We report a case of bilateral Phthiriasis palpebrarum with crab louse. A 48-year-old woman presented with severe itching in both eyes for 4 days. Careful slit-lamp examination revealed multiple motile lice and nits in the eyelashes of both eyes with mild conjunctival hyperemia. Treatment was started by manually removing all the adult lice and eyelashes where nits were seen adhering and by the application of petrolatum jelly. After 2 weeks, she was symptomatically better with no louse or nit on her eyelashes on ocular examination.