Got lice?
Dr. P's Pediatric Journal Club
The study
133 patients with head lice were given a nontoxic lotion (Cetaphil cleanser) and instructed to:
- Apply to the entire scalp. Leave in for 2 minutes, then comb out the excess.
- Dry it with a hair dryer (to suffocate the lice).
- Leave the dried lotion on the scalp for at least 8 hours.
- Shampoo it all out.
- Wash clothes and heat pillow cases, sheets, etc in the dryer for > 10 minutes.
- Repeat once a week for up to 3 weeks.
The overall long-term cure rate was 94-96%. (Removing the nits with a comb did not improve the success rate.)
What the study suggests
For people with head lice, slathering the scalp with Cetaphil and drying it (per the directions above) suffocates the lice and may be an effective new treatment.
Dr. P comments
Lice are pesky, loathsome critters and sometimes hard to eradicate. As a pediatrician, it's nice be able to recommend that parents try a new, simple, inexpensive, and safe treatment.
Actually, there is an interesting story here. When this California dermatologist first published his results 16 months ago, he did not identify what the lotion was. In fact, he called it "Nuvo" and charged his patients $285 for the treatment at his dermatology office - $100 for the Nuvo lotion alone. (Cetaphil cleanser costs less than $10 for 16 ounces).
Only last month, in a letter to the journal Pediatrics, did he reveal the truth: his miracle lotion was plain old Cetaphil cleanser. We can all manage a pretty good guess (and it ain't pretty) as to his motivation for keeping the nature of the lotion secret, but one has to wonder why he finally came clean.
Anyway, give it a try and let me know if you have success.
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Articles cited:
A simple treatment for head lice: Dry-on, suffocation-based pediculicide.
Pearlman DL; Pediatrics. September, 2004.
Cetaphil cleanser (Nuvo lotion) cures head lice.
Pearlman DL. Pediatrics. December, 2005.
Related Topics: A Better Treatment For Head Lice?, When to Keep Junior Home from Day Care
Technorati Tags: head lice, cetaphil, nuvo treatment
48 Comments:
I love this solution, living in Florida -- lice capital of the world, it seems. But concern is that schools do head checks to make sure there are no nits, so even if the casings and lice are dead, you still have to comb them out.
And of coures I hate being a nitpickers. :)
But this is a step in the right direction. My personal home remedy that works everytime is mayo. My kid smells like salad dressing but she becomes nit free!
Dr Parker,
Thanks for adding the "interesting part" of the story. I don't remember seeing it when you posted it originally. Forgive me if I missed it.
You might also mention school lice policies, most of which are all over the map in terms of their relationship to the evidence-based medicine on lice.
There remains a fair bit of unfortunate stigma and related nonsense related to head lice.
best,
Flea
As a school nurse, I have seen more lice than I care to. I have also seen many frustrated parents. Mostly due to treatments that don't work and the expense involved. One parent shared the secret of Cetaphil with me. She had been treating every weekend for 1 1/2 months with no luck. A friend told her about Cetaphil. She went home and tried it immediately and never saw another. I've just told another parent and am anxious to hear her report.
My 13-year-old son has more hair than the entire cast of the musical "Hair" combined. The pesticide-based lice shampoo did absolutely nothing. It took only two treatments with Cetaphil, and his hair was completely lice free.
Im a student i have an investigatory project about the headlice treatment so i used mayo as a treatment so can i have more information on how mayo can be treat on headlice...
I have two children, 8 & 10, and this summer we experienced our first bout of headlice. I wasn't overly fond of the conventional treatment (medicated shampoos) because I found them messy, and the "nitpicking " was frustrating. When they came home from school the other day with another round of headlice, I decide to try the "Cetaphil Method" and was absolutely astonished at how easy it was -especially picking the nits and eggs after the treatment -they just slid right off, no problem. Granted, the application and drying took a little more time, but based on the effectiveness, I am recommending this method to everyone I know. I won't ever go back to the medicated shampoos.
I'm trying this method now, unfortunately. I have to admit when I found out the kids had lice, I totally freaked out and did a Nix treatment. But also the Cetaphil treatment. I still need to do two more Cetaphils and am not planning on using the Nix again.
Do people really NOT comb? The thought of those little buggers hatching out between treatments gives me the creeps!
Oh and does anyone know, has this study been replicated by another investigator? Everything I read just seems to talk about how this guy was a jerk for trying to sell Cetaphil for major $$$. Yes, it was not a good thing to do but get over it and someone else do another study to see if you get goood results!
this cetephil lotion treatment...where do i get it???
howdo u get rid of the nits?we have tried everything and nothing has helped
The drying is horrible but so far I like this better then the 5 bouts of Rid I tried.
how can you tell that the lice eggs are dead
how long before you are not spreadable? i watch kids that is how we got it but how long do i have to keep the kids away to be sure that no one has it them or my family??? please help
also to add what i just wrote i have a 4 month old baby what do i do if he gets it or can i prevent it before hand. my oldest son and i are doing the cetiphl method i just hope it works i have only found 2 lice but i have combed out alot of little things tht appear to have this long thing that looks like a tongue what are these?? once again please help!!!!!!!
I have a 5 year old who keeps getting head lice from pre-school and i am really fusterated i have tried the mayo treatment and Rid i am at my wits end i have combed there hair like crazy and still they keep coming back i am very anal about doing there hair once a day for at least an hour and well with my 2 year old it is really hard because she doesn't want to stay still for long I am going to give this Cetaphil a shot and i will report back and let you all know how it worked for us!!!!!
I tried the Cetaphil treatment on my 9 year old and it didn't work. I found live lice on her within hours of finishing our first treatment. I then tried NIX-- my pediatrician told me I had to leave it on for over 4 hours, and it worked. I only found dead lice.
If only you knew.... My 5 year old is on her 11th case of HEAD LICE since Christmas! I am frustrated and totally over all of this! School starts in a few weeks and I'm just wondering how many days she is going to miss...? I have used every treatment in Walgreens. I'm going to try the cephil treatment with the hopes it works!
We have three young children who have had several bouts of lice in the past year, including a 5 year old preschooler who was apparently reinfected by classmates whose parents decided against treating the lice. Since I abhor repeatedly dousing my children's heads with poison, I went with my pediatrician's recommendation to use Cetaphil. But it is not foolproof, and I think we will be doing Cetaphil treatments weekly for some time to come.
My question concerns the epidemiology of this pest: how is it that with a parasite this infectious and resilient, not every person in the population is infested?!
You can buy Cetaphil at Walgreens, Walmart and other big drug stores and grocery stores and look in the facial cleansers section. Not in the shampoo or lice treatments. Cetaphil is a facial or body cleanser that contains no soap but is a special cleanser to replace soap for people who are allergic to soap. I use the product for this reason. But, now that I found that my daughter has lice and we just used the Nix treatment yesterday, I will try my Cetaphil today just in case. Good luck all.
I think people will say and do anything to get rich. non-believer and also last time user. thanks for wasting my fifty bucks and my time. Not to mention the stress my children have to go thru again.
I am at my wits end!!!!!! my two year old and I have done 3 treatments in 3 weeks and NOTHING is working! I've cleaned my entire house, washed everything there is to wash and nothing is working! I've used RID, and the CVS brand. Today I am trying Cetaphil and let's see what happens!
We treated with RID, and did a very thorough job with the combing... and the next day found more baby lice. We tried Cetaphil treatment, EXACTLY as outlined in the nuvo treatment webpage. The next day, after washing it out, was able to easily comb out eggs, and LOTS of tiny dead lice. But I have to wonder, the instructions say you don't have to comb. The treatment only kills the lice, so are you just supposed to let all the eggs hatch in the week between treatments? How can people NOT do the combing....
I never knew lice were such a nightmare....
I have done 2 Cetaphil treatments. I Am still finding one nit here and there. Should I have all them out of her hair to get rid of the lice. I have not seen any live lice in almost 3 weeks
When I discovered my daughter had lice, I rushed to Walgreens and bought a NIX kit. Followed the procedure, and even did my head. Figured everything was solved. Wrong. She was still scratching, even 6 days later. I called her pediatrician, who recommended the Cetaphil method. I did 3 Cetaphil treatments, 7 days apart. On the 3rd treatment, I figured everything was solved. I found a live louse. I was so frustrated, I couldn't see any nits! So then I started doing the Cetaphil treatments 3 days apart, and after two 3 day-apart treatments later, it looks like all of the nits are finally gone. So it took about 5 Cetaphil treatments, and I will continue to do more until I am 100% sure they are all gone! I have spent over $100 on all of the supplies since this whole thing started. NIX was of no help at all.
My 7 year old has lice. We just finished the cetaphil treatment. Then we went through his hair and picked nits. We're going to do another treatment tonight.
It's a pain, but I think you have to pick the nits out by hand, not a comb .
A friend said to try tea tree oil shampoo once the lice are gone as a preventive measure. Apparently lice don't like tea tree oil?
I'm going to buy some ASAP.
I teach many homeless children and brought these lovely creatures home to my home. My sons endured the lice and here we sit.....itchy and scrathy, and nitty. But... to Cetphil's credit, we tried three different toxic remedies and this one has worked. I think I will be looking elsewhere for employment. Yes ....make certain that the hair is completely dry before washing. I didn't the first time, and that is why I am sitting here now.
My mom and I have had two treatments with NIX and nothing seems to be working. We have tried the mayo. treatment but all that did was make my hair smell like a salad.I CANNOT use any more of that treatment.After i have read this page, my mom has thought about going out and buying Cetaphil and see if that works. Right now we are trying to find nits and see if we can stop this nightmare. Can anyone help us,please?
Can your dog carry lice and give it to your family?
my daughter got lice from a child at the doctor's office, it has been 3 weeks now and i have tried every single over the counter product including the spray for the furnitures. i need help?? She will be 3 yrs next month.
if you or your child gets lice, the first thing you should do, even before treatment, is nit pick -- it reduces the chances of any lice surviving and developing immunities. Also, most treatments don't kill the nits (which is why you need to retreat every week) so the more you can reduce their population, the less likely they will be to spread between treatments, or if the treatment fails.
The only problem with nit picking first is that it may be difficult to tell if treatment has worked. So you'll just have to keep checking heads every few days for the next few weeks until your sure there are no more -- it takes 2 weeks for a louse to be mature enough to lay eggs, so you need to be at least that long without seeing any eggs. If you see even one egg, you'll need to continue for 2 more weeks. If you see any live lice, you have to start all over with the treatments.
I don't recomend the use of nit combs. I tested several types of them them on my daughter, who had hundreds of nits in her hair, and the comb didn't get very many out. I even combed the same hair several times, in which I could see 10 or more nits, and it kept missing them. I wish it did work because it took me 14 hours to get all of the nits off of her by hand -- and I had 2 more kids to go, and then my wife. Myself, I just shaved my head - which I would recommend anyone with boys should do if treatments aren't working.
I don't recommend spending time on cleaning the house -- that time would be so much better spent checking heads and nit picking. Lice are transfered via head to head, hair to hair, contact. Its rare that healthy lice will fall off a head, and even more rare for a louse thats fallen off to ever find a head again before it starves in 2 to 3 days, so its just not worth the effort. Having said that, simple things like cleaning hats and changing pillow cases should still be done, just because it is really easy and, even though its incredibly unlikely, it could still happen.
And don't worry about your pets (or dolls or stuffed animals). Lice feed on human blood so they cannot survive on dogs and cats, or toys. Though I supposed by some luck they could find their way onto a pet or doll, it will most likely crawl off in search off food, and since they can't detect where their food has gone (they live and die on the head, so its not like they need to be able to find humans)its unlikly it will ever find a human home before it starves.
Now for my opinion of Cetaphil -- I personally have not had success with cetaphil. I've treated my family many times and have yet to find a single dead bug. But its not a total loss - I find that during the combing process lots and lots of the larger bugs are pulled out. I actually do the treatment now just for that purpose. And instead of blow drying and leaving it in for 8 hours, I just wash it out, and occasionally a few more bugs are rinsed out with it.
So good luck to you all. I hope you find a treatment that works for you, and if it doesn't I hope you have boys, because if you're like me with 3 girls you're in for a lot of work.
i work in a day care how long after being in contact with a child who had lice would you know if tou had it
Anonymous from Alabama....
My daughter is 3 years old and goes to a preschool. She keeps coming in with lice and we keep treating it and thinking we got rid of it. Not so. I've cleaned and washed everything and it's back. Now I am 4 weeks pregnant and afraid to use any of the sprays like Lysol and Clorox for the fumes. help me please.
My friend's children get lice from their step-siblings and when there's an outbreak while the steps are visiting, she uses green flea and tick dog shampoo. It has to be the green kind. Lather up, leave it on for an hour, rinse, and comb. She gets rid of it every time, but it doesn't stay gone because the steps keep coming back to her house with lice. She won't use store remedies anymore (Rix, RidX, etc.)
Three Girls with headlice since the new year. Used all the pesticide remedies. They do not even kill the bugs, just slows them down long enough for me to catch them in their heads. Used an all-natural product called licenex. I had the same results as the pesticides. I change sheets, pillowcases, and quilts everyday. I vacuum the furniture and throw the couch pillows in the dryer every day. The girls wear coats one time and they go in the wash. The Cetaphil has worked better than anything. I check and pick their heads every morning and every night. It has been 18 days without any live or dead bugs. It had been 9 days without any nits. I just found one. The girls were due for their 3rd treatment of cetaphil. I did it. I am praying they are gone. I feel like my life has been taking over by these little creatures.
I will continue to use the cetaphil and nit pick. Much better than the chemicals.
Price total is up to about $500 with everything not including all the electric I have been using with the extra wash.
Good Luck everyone.
I understand everybodies frustration, this little pest has consumed our lives. We have used 2 treatments of Cetaphil and have had a lot of success, more than we did with chemical treatments. I found out we were doing it a little different than the directions listed on this page. We left our 7 year old's hair wetter than what is suggested and let her sleep in a shower cap after blow drying her hair. The next morning we found black spots in the cap and they washed out extremely easily. I ask my husband to check my hair often, so far I and the rest of my family are clear of anything. But, my question is... When does the sympathy itching stop?
Try Tea Tree Oil Shampoo. You can find it a most health food stores. It works!
I want the world to know about our lice experience. The products you mentioned probably all work, with the addition of "nit picking" as this is the only way to get the nits (dead or alive) off the head, but if you have a source who does not get treated, the nits and bugs will never be gone, regardless of all the treatment and "nit picking" you do. Stepdaughter has come to our home with nits and live bugs for the last 4 + years on and off. We have to check her head before we even let her in the door. It is sad. She will be 15 this year and mom does not believe she has them despite dermatologists confirmation. Determatologist obviously hasn't heard of the Cetaphil ordeal, he still orders Lindane! My husband and I are so good at identifying the lice and nits, we want to open a shop and start a business. We are serious! Anyone think a shop called "Nit pickers" would do? We figured at 200.00 a head, we could retire early!!! A little advice for all of you frustrated parents such as us: Get your child's hair cut as short as possible, use whatever seems to work for you, as far as products go,(the more natural, the better), and check, check, check, every day for the next 4 weeks. You HAVE TO pick the nits off. That is a must.
Signing off.....Infection Control Registered Nurse.
Cetaphil seemed to work for us, three treatments spaced a week apart, but it's hard to say whether it was that, or the daily hand picking that did it. I bought good combs, but the nits still just slid past the tight teeth. So I separated very narrow sections of hair for inspection, and slid every nit off the hair shaft with my thumbnail against my index finger. We did that every day, about an hour a session, until I had two clean inspections.
How do you tell the difference between head lice and dandruff. The lice killing shampoo says if the flakes come off easily, then its not lice.
Advice I would like to give everyone going on cruses to the Caribbean - Do not under any circumstance let an island girl braid your hair because they don't use a clean comb! This is the reason my daughter got nits (white flakes) on her scalp where the hair was braided. Go to a salon for braids, because they clean their combs and brushes in a solution.
If you only have white flakes and no black things, is it lice?
They can be brown, grey or white. Anything that sticks to hair. Learned this the hard way. Even the Elementary said my 7 yr old was lice free when they saw brown. Uhg!
This past Friday I found a live adolescent louse on my sons head while he was getting his hair cut. Later we came home and I found about 20 eggs on his scalp, even though he had just had his head shaved. I did the right thing by informing everyone he had been in contact with to let them know and now one of the people who lives with his babysitter has it and is expecting me to pay for her treatment stuff. I don't have the money to spend on her much less my own child. I am scared to put any chemicals on his head considering he is only 2 and a half years old. Should I be required to pay for her treatment considering she has a head full of eggs where he only had a few, making me wonder if she gave it to him. I don't know what to do. I had lice all the time as a kid because of the infestation in the school district where I now live again. I am so scared of what to do and that I will lose a babysitter in the process if I don't pay for her roommates treatment. Please anyone with any advice please let me know.
Well...we have been dealing with this for about two months now. I have three daughters all with long hair. I have tried all the stre remidies and nothing seems to be working. I just did my first round of Cetaphil. Time will tell...if it doesn't work you will be able to spot my girls by there shiny bald heads....seriously.
We are using the Cetaphil and hopefully it will work. We are wondering if going to the pool will also help. Does anyone know if the chlorine in the water will have any impact?
Please do not feel obligated to pay for others' lice treatment, there is no possible way to blame a source for lice.
It's been good reading everyone's trial and tribulations re: Lice. We've had lice in our family off and on since March. I've vaccummed and washed everything more times these past few months. We've used all treatments, including simple "scraping" with nit combs everyday. We sleep with coconut oil in our heads, walk around with tea tree oil in our heads, use tea tree oil shampoo/conditioner. The combs do not work for my head, but I can't get anyone to sit down and go through all the strands on my head. My daugther now has very short hair but still thick. I can spend twenty minutes going through her hair thinking she's clean and then find a tiny patch of nits and lice poop.
We are also taking oral medicine to rid body of parasites. My husband, I can't find any lice or eggs/nits, but he keeps getting bites so he must have them. We are going insane. The worst part is it is totally impacting daughter's ability to have friends and/or lice free play dates.
Thanks.
What does the poop look like?
I'm concerned about the pesticides I've used to kill these creaturs: 3attempts with chemicals: Rid and Nix and the spray for the house. The spray concerns me most. My child and I both got a headache last night. Also, it registered about an hour ago that my child was sleepy after using the spray in the bedroom. Of course, my child did not sleep there after spraying, but fell asleep in the living room in the afternoon. We are on can #3. I don't plan to use anymore. I'm concern about any harm I may have caused/created by using that product: spray pesticide for lice. equate bedding spray. What can I do to reduce any potencial harm?
The pool will NOT help. My daughter's friend had lice and was treated. Her mom believed that one treatment is all it would take. Then there was the birthday party today followed by a dip in their pool. They had never drained the above-ground easy-set pool because they didn't realize the lice could live in the water. Then my friend found little brown lice on my daughter's head, I guess from the water. Great. She looked it up online and found a NC gov't website that said they CAN live in pools. So, I picked her up with her hair up in a baseball cap, ran to the pharmacy, and got right into the treatment at home. Haven't found many nits, only adolescent lice, so I'm hoping that after every-other day combing and exams plus another treatment in 7 days we'll be done. Actually, it's more than home since we're supposed to be leaving on a cross-country vacation in a week. :(
P.S. - I did the treatment and stuck her hair up in a shower cap for the 10 minutes. Before bed, I put it back into the shower cap so she wouldn't contaminate her sheets, though they'll get washed this week anyway. I'm not going to wash her hair tomorrow so that any residue from the medicine remains on her scalp. I'm also using a gel that is supposed to make them easier to comb out and contains an ingredient to suffocate them, too. It's the Rid-X 3-Step product.
I tried RiD on my daughter and did not work, found lice the next day as active as can be, when we first used it, it the bugs were sluggish and came out easily but never died. I tried cetaphil last night on myself b/c I started itching and found totally dead bugs during the comb out step. I figure there must be some merit to the "nuvo" lotion if the inventor/dr. Pearlman is going to pay all that money to patent his idea. My head did stopped itching today, will continue and try it on my girl tonight. I think there is a lot of resistant bugs to incecticides b/c it has been around for a long time. So all the weak bugs are killed but the resistant bugs stay around and reproduce more resistant bugs!
Yes, this totally works! Its easier if you use an old hood type hair dryer and I left it on my child as long as she could stand it.
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