More treatment options for head lice in children
Dimeticone lotion
Dimeticone has recently been found to clear head lice. It is a silicone based product and is not classed as an insecticide chemical. Dimeticone has a good safety record and is widely used in cosmetics and toiletries. Dimeticone is applied in a similar way to insecticide lotions as described earlier. As with insecticide lotions, you need to apply the same lotion twice - seven days apart. Each application is left on for at least eight hours (overnight) and then washed off. Dimeticone is thought to kill lice by a physical process rather than by any chemical effect. It may block the way the lice pass out water, which kills them. However, it is not thought to kill unhatched eggs, which is why two applications are needed, seven days apart. (The second application makes sure that any lice that hatch from eggs which survived the first application will be killed before they are old enough to lay further eggs.) A recent research study showed that lice can be cleared in about 7 in 10 cases by using dimeticone lotion. The downside to dimeticone is that it is a relatively new treatment with only this one main research study to back up the claim that it works well. Hopefully, more studies will be done to confirm that it is an effective treatment.
What about other treatments?
There are a wide range of other treatments that are said to work by some people. For example, tea tree oil, quassia, other essential oils, herbal remedies, electric combs. However, there is a lack of research studies to confirm that they work well in most cases. Therefore, until more research is done, these other methods cannot be recommended.
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