Laboratory and clinical trials of cocamide lotion against head lice

A new study has revealed that cocamide DEA 10% lotion shows limited activity to eliminate head lice infection.

The study by Burgess et al., published in the November 2015 PeerJ Biological and Medical Journal investigated the possibility that a surfactant-based lotion containing 10% cocamide diethanolamine (cocamide DEA) was effective to eliminate head lice infection.

In vitro tests found a mortality rate of greater than 98% for 10% cocamide DEA lotion against lice, and greater than 99% against eggs.

One clinical treatment revealed that 10% cocamide DEA showed poor performance for treating head lice infestation with only 13% of treatments using cocamide DEA being successful.

Another clinical treatment revealed that a single 8h/overnight application of 10% cocamide DEA concentrated by hair drying gave 18% successes compared with 34% for the 2 h application regimen repeated after 1 week (n = 56).

A limited number of adverse effects were observed.