--- title: Selfies Cause Head Lice in Teens Says Expert Marcy McQuillan description: "But now, teens are sticking their heads together every day to take cell phone pics." canonical: https://time.com/9572/expert-claims-selfies-are-giving-teens-head-lice/ author: Jessica Roy article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-02-24T18:26:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:07:17.724Z og:title: Selfies Cause Head Lice in Teens Says Expert Marcy McQuillan og:description: "But now, teens are sticking their heads together every day to take cell phone pics." og:url: https://time.com/9572/expert-claims-selfies-are-giving-teens-head-lice/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6045bc6c9e554e97/69868303361760ec2090aa6c/selfie1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: selfie1 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Selfies Cause Head Lice in Teens Says Expert Marcy McQuillan twitter:description: "But now, teens are sticking their heads together every day to take cell phone pics." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6045bc6c9e554e97/69868303361760ec2090aa6c/selfie1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Expert Claims Selfies Are Giving Teens Head Lice > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Jessica Roy](https://time.com/author/jessica-roy/) ## Jessica Roy Feb 24, 2014 6:26 PM UTC  Yellow Dog Productions/Getty Images by [Jessica Roy](https://time.com/author/jessica-roy/) ## Jessica Roy Feb 24, 2014 6:26 PM UTC Teens everywhere are smooshing their heads together in an attempt to capture the perfect selfie, and while that sounds pretty innocent, danger is lurking just around the corner: all those selfies could be causing an uptick in head lice cases. [SFist talked to a lice expert](http://sfist.com/2014/02/24/are%5Fselfies%5Fcausing%5Fhead%5Flice%5Finfes.php) located in Scotts Valley named Marcy McQuillan who notes that though lice is usually found in elementary aged kids, she’s seen a “huge increase” in lice cases in teens this year. The obvious culprit for this anomaly? Evil, evil selfies. “Typically it’s younger children I treat, because they’re at higher risk for head-to-head contact. But now, teens are sticking their heads together every day to take cell phone pics,” McQuillan [told SFist](http://sfist.com/2014/02/24/are%5Fselfies%5Fcausing%5Fhead%5Flice%5Finfes.php). There’s only one clear solution here: shave your teen’s head. 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