A new method of killing head lice by suffocating them with a lotion that dries on the scalp like shrink-wrap appears to work as well as many conventional medicines, its inventor said Tuesday.
In a paper published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dale Pearlman, a dermatologist in Menlo Park, California, said that with his method nits -- lice eggs -- did not need to be combed out of the hair first, and resistance to some drug treatments was not an issue.
In two tests involving 133 children, the treatment eradicated lice in from 95 percent to 97 percent of cases, he said.
The lotion was placed wet on the scalp then dried with a hair dryer to “shrink wrap” the lice and cut off their source of oxygen, he said.
The treatment “effectively treats head lice without neurotoxins, nit removal or extensive house cleaning,” he said in the report published in “Pediatrics,” the academy’s monthly journal.
“These results are comparable or superior to the results previously reported for treatments with permethrin, pyrethrin and malathion.”
Simpler method
Pearlman said he developed the preparation himself and it was available only to his patients, but he was looking for backing from the pharmaceutical industry and for regulatory approval.
Head lice infestations are now treated with insecticidal preparations.
Pearlman said lice had become resistant to nonprescription remedies. Prescription preparations using either malathion or lindane had better cure rates than nonprescription products, Pearlman said, but some parents and doctors were reluctant to recommend them because of safety concerns.
“The simplicity of this method was welcomed by both parents and children,” his report said.
He said the lotion should be left in place for at least eight hours to be effective. “After (it) dried on the scalp, the lotion was not visible, and the hair could be styled as usual. Treated children went to school with their hair looking the same as usual,” he added.
Pearlman said his lotion is composed of stearyl alcohol, propylene glycol, sodium lauryl sulfate, cetyl alcohol, water and other ingredients all “generally recognized as safe” by the . Food and Drug Administration.
