Tropical Medicine and Health  2015;43(2):89-90

doi:10.2149/tmh.2014-39

Re: Treatment of Parasitic Skin Diseases with Dimeticones A New Family of Compounds with a Purely Physical Mode of Action

Ian F. Burgess

Keywords

Ectoparasites; dimeticone; treatment

Country

Japan

Language

English

Abstract

The article on use of dimeticone for treatment of epidermal parasitic skin diseases is potentially confusing and misleading because, in a practical sense, only head louse infestation can be treated with this material. Scabies mites are unaffected by silicones and use of dimeticone against other ectoparasites may have unwanted side effects such as anaphylactiform reactions or increased risk of pathogen transmission.