The louse is (no longer) in the house.

Evidence Trials found the following statistically significant results. • Two RCTs compared dimeticone with permethrin. -A British RCT of 90 patients (aged 2 to 45)1 compared 4% dimeticone once with 1% permethrin twice (1 week apart) and found more dimeticone patients were lice free at day 9 (80% vs 36%, number needed to treat [NNT] = 3). Adverse events were similar and none were serious. -A Brazilian RCT of 145 children (aged 5 to 15)2 compared 2 applications (1 week apart) of 92% dimeticone with 1% permethrin and found that more dimeticone patients were lice free at day 9 (97% vs 68%, NNT = 4). Adverse events were 2 cases of ocular irritation from dimeticone. • A British RCT of 73 patients (aged 1 to 48)3 compared 2 applications (1 week apart) of 4% dimeticone with 0.5% malathion. Analysis (considering dropouts to have lice) found more dimeticone patients were lice free at day 9 (70% vs 33%, NNT = 3). • Other European dimeticone RCTs found cure rates of 83% to 92%4 and 70% in patients predominantly with long-standing lice and previous failed treatments.5