Topical ivermectin in head lice treatment

A new study has shown that Ivermectin lotion is effective when applied topically to treat head lice infection.

The study, by Pariser et al., published in the November 2012 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, used a randomised, double-blind study to investigate the effectiveness of topical application of 0.5% Ivermectin lotion.

A significantly larger number of patients were louse free after 15 days post-treatment with ivermectin relative to the control (74% vs 18%, p < 0.001), indicating that a single 10-minute application of topical Ivermectin was effective in the treatment of head lice infections.

These results have similar proportions of successful treatment when compared to earlier studies of oral administration of ivermectin.