Permethrin Topical
Permethrin topical is an antiparasitic medication used to treat scabies and lice infestations.
🧬 Where this information comes from Click to expand
The clinical label records used on this page are FDA-filed Structured Product Labeling (SPL) retrieved through openFDA. We identified 15 clinical label sets within the page’s selected clinical scope after exact ingredient or ingredient-combination matching and applicable route/form matching. Forms, routes, brands, labelers, strengths, and NDC product-record counts are built separately from matching FDA National Drug Code Directory records. The linked DailyMed document is a representative official source for verification, not the page’s only clinical source. View the linked label on DailyMed →
📖 Permethrin Topical: Patient Information Guide
A plain-language walkthrough of Permethrin Topical — what it treats, how it works, how it’s taken, side effects, warnings and interactions. Tap any section to expand it.
🎯What it's used for▾
Permethrin topical is an antiparasitic used across several products to treat two main types of parasitic infestations:
- Elimite (permethrin) 5% cream: Treats scabies, a skin infestation caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei
- Good Neighbor Pharmacy Lice Treatment, Good Sense Lice Killing Creme Rinse, Health Mart Lice Treatment, Kakshal Permethrin, and Leader Lice Treatment: Treat head lice infestations
⚙️How it works▾
Permethrin belongs to a class of drugs called pyrethroids — synthetic compounds that mimic naturally occurring insect-killing substances. It targets the nerve cell membranes of parasites, specifically blocking the sodium channels that nerves rely on to send and reset signals. Without that reset, the parasite's nerves fire uncontrollably, causing paralysis and death of the lice, mites, or other pests.
Very little permethrin is absorbed through human skin — studies with Elimite 5% cream suggest that 2% or less of the applied amount enters the body. Whatever is absorbed is quickly broken down by the body into inactive byproducts and eliminated mainly through urine.
💊How it's taken▾
Permethrin topical products are applied to the skin or hair — never swallowed. Elimite 5% cream is applied to the whole body surface and rinsed off after a period of time directed by your prescriber. Lice creme rinse products are applied to clean, towel-dried hair, left on for exactly 10 minutes, then rinsed thoroughly with warm water.
- A second lice treatment application may be needed if live lice are still present 7 or more days after the first treatment
- Do not leave the lice creme rinse on longer than 10 minutes
- Always follow the specific directions on your product label or from your prescriber
🤒Side effects — in detail▾
Most side effects with permethrin topical are mild and happen right at the application site.
- Burning and stinging after application (reported in about 1 in 10 patients with Elimite cream)
- Itching (pruritus) — may occur at various times after application
- Redness (erythema)
- Numbness or tingling of the skin
- Skin rash
- Headache, dizziness, fever
- Stomach pain, diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting
Stop use and get medical help if you develop trouble breathing, eye irritation that persists after flushing, or skin irritation or infection that continues or worsens.
⚠️Warnings & precautions▾
- For external use only — never swallow; if ingested, call Poison Control (1-800-222-1222) immediately
- Do not use on children under 2 months of age
- Keep away from the eyes, and out of the nose, ears, mouth, and vagina
- Do not treat lice in the eyebrows or eyelashes yourself — see a doctor
- If you have a ragweed allergy, use with caution — permethrin may trigger breathing difficulty or an asthma attack
- If breathing difficulty or eye irritation develops, stop use and seek medical attention right away
- Excessive use of the topical product may cause increased irritation and redness
- Keep out of reach of children
🔀What it interacts with▾
The FDA label for permethrin topical does not identify specific drug or food interactions. However, for lice creme rinse products, one important product-related caution applies:
- Conditioner-containing shampoos: Do not wash hair with a shampoo that contains conditioner, and do not use a conditioner alone before applying the lice creme rinse — conditioner can reduce the product's effectiveness
This is not a complete list of interactions. Always talk with your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping, or changing any medication.
📋Before taking it▾
- Do not use if you are allergic to permethrin, any synthetic pyrethroid or pyrethrin — Elimite is contraindicated in these patients
- Ragweed allergy: ask a doctor before use, as permethrin may cause breathing difficulty or trigger an asthmatic episode
- Children under 2 months of age: do not use
- Pregnant or breastfeeding: ask a health professional before use
- Do not apply to the eyebrows or eyelashes area if treating lice there — consult a doctor instead
🚑If you take too much▾
No cases of accidental ingestion of Elimite 5% cream have been reported. If someone swallows any permethrin product, contact Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 or seek emergency medical care immediately. Using too much of the product on the skin may cause increased irritation and redness at the application site.
📡Pharmacodynamics — effects in the body▾
Permethrin kills a broad range of parasites — including lice, mites, ticks, and fleas — by disrupting their nerve function. It interferes with sodium channels in nerve cell membranes, preventing the normal electrical reset that nerves need after firing. This leads to prolonged nerve excitation, paralysis, and death of the pest. Because human nerve cells are structured differently and very little permethrin is absorbed through the skin, the drug has a favorable safety profile when used as directed.
🔬Pharmacokinetics — how your body processes it▾
Permethrin is applied to the skin and is minimally absorbed — studies with Elimite 5% cream suggest that 2% or less of the applied dose enters the body. Once absorbed, it is rapidly broken down through a process called ester hydrolysis into inactive metabolites (breakdown products). These inactive byproducts are cleared from the body mainly through urine.
📦How to store it▾
Store at 20º to 25ºC (68º to 77ºF) .
📄 Written from Permethrin Topical’s FDA-approved label information, summarized in plain language with AI, and reviewed by our pharmacy team before publication. Every point is grounded in that labeling — nothing is invented. How we use AI →
🩺 Pharmacist Counseling Corner
Quick, plain-English answers to the questions patients ask most about Permethrin Topical — the kind of thing our pharmacy team would talk through with you at the counter.
What is permethrin cream actually used for? ▾
How do I use the lice creme rinse correctly? ▾
Will it burn or itch when I apply it? What side effects should I expect? ▾
Is there anything I should watch out for that means I need to call a doctor? ▾
Can I use this on my baby or while I'm pregnant? ▾
Is one treatment enough, or will I need to do it again? ▾
Is Permethrin Topical available over the counter? ▾
When was Permethrin Topical first available? ▾
Who makes Permethrin Topical? ▾
💬 Answers drafted from Permethrin Topical’s FDA-approved label information, summarized in plain language with AI, and reviewed by our pharmacy team before publication. Grounded in that labeling — nothing is made up. How we use AI →
🧰 Keep exploring
💊 How Permethrin Topical comes
Permethrin Topical is available in 1 form. Different forms and brands can have different approved uses, doses, schedules, and directions. Follow the instructions for your exact product, and do not switch forms without guidance from your prescriber or pharmacist.
Topical cream, ointment or gel
How this form is used
- Elimite (permethrin) 5% cream is used to treat scabies (infestation with Sarcoptes scabiei mites)
- Good Neighbor Pharmacy Lice Treatment, Good Sense Lice Killing Creme Rinse, Health Mart Lice Treatment, Kakshal Permethrin, and Leader Lice Treatment are used to treat head lice infestations
- Good Sense Lice Killing Creme Rinse: wash hair with shampoo (no conditioner), towel dry, then saturate hair and scalp with the creme rinse, starting behind the ears and at the back of the neck
- Good Sense Lice Killing Creme Rinse: leave the product on hair for 10 minutes — no longer — then rinse with warm water
- Good Sense Lice Killing Creme Rinse: if live lice are still seen 7 or more days after the first treatment, a second treatment should be given
- Keep all products out of eyes; if contact occurs, flush immediately with large amounts of water
📊 Permethrin Topical across the U.S. market
How Permethrin Topical appears in the FDA’s National Drug Code Directory — including its dosage forms, strengths, brand names, manufacturers, and FDA-listed product records. These are directory records, not sales or prescription volume.
Share of FDA-listed product records by manufacturer — FDA National Drug Code Directory. Record counts are not sales or prescription volume.
📈 How widely Permethrin Topical is used
A general measure of how commonly Permethrin Topical is prescribed, based on Medicaid — one of the largest public drug programs. The figure below is prescriptions filled in Q1–Q4 2025, summed across every form and brand of the drug.
Think of this as a proxy for how widely Permethrin Topical is used, drawn from freely available public data. Medicaid is just one program — these numbers don’t include Medicare, other government coverage, or commercial and cash-pay prescriptions, so real-world use is higher than what’s shown here.
How commonly is Permethrin Topical prescribed? Of the 1,596 medications we measure, Permethrin Topical ranks #379 by Medicaid prescriptions — more than 76% of them.
Utilization by Permethrin Topical product
Pick a product to see its own Medicaid numbers. Each chip is one clinical product — a specific strength & dosage form as defined by RxNorm — with brand-name and generic versions combined.
permethrin 50 MG/ML Topical Cream Most dispensed
Summed across the 5 of 15 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 106387
permethrin 10 MG/ML Medicated Shampoo
Summed across the 2 of 17 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 250387
Shares are of the Medicaid prescriptions shown here. Product grouping follows RxNorm (the National Library of Medicine’s drug terminology), so “one product” means one strength & dosage form regardless of manufacturer. Dollar figures are gross Medicaid reimbursement before mandatory rebates — rebates (often large, especially for brand-name drugs) are confidential, so actual net cost to Medicaid is lower than shown.
Source: Medicaid State Drug Utilization Data (CMS), aggregated by generic ingredient — summed across every NDC (all brands, strengths, salt forms and dosage forms) of Permethrin Topical, and across all states and both fee-for-service and managed-care claims. A general popularity signal; it excludes Medicare, commercial insurance and cash prescriptions, so it is not total U.S. use. Based on the 7 of 32 listed Permethrin Topical NDCs with Medicaid activity.
🔍 Compare Permethrin Topical products
A representative set of FDA-listed product records for Permethrin Topical — across manufacturers, strengths, and dosage forms, grouped by form with each product’s manufacturer and how the FDA approved it. The same medicine may be made and packaged by different companies, so a single drug can have many directory entries. (It’s also why a refill can look different — a new shape, color, or box — even though it contains the same medication.)
| Strength | Route | Manufacturer / Labeler | Category ⓘ | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 💊Topical cream, ointment or gel | ||||
| 50 mg/g | Topical | A-S Medication Solutions × 2 listings | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 50 mg/g | Topical | Actavis Pharma, Inc. × 2 listings | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 1 mg/100 mL | Topical | Amerisource Bergen | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 50 mg/g | Topical | Aurobindo Pharma Limited | NDA AUTHORIZED GENERIC | View NDC → |
| 50 mg/g | Topical | Aurobindo Pharma Limited | NDA | View NDC → |
| 50 mg/g | Topical | Bryant Ranch Prepack × 3 listings | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 1 g/100 mL | Topical | Cardinal Health 110, LLC. dba Leader | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 1 mg/100 mL | Topical | CVS Pharmacy | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 50 mg/100 g | Topical | Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Inc. × 2 listings | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 1 g/100 mL | Topical | Geodis Logistics LLC | NDA | View NDC → |
| 1 g/100 mL | Topical | Insight Pharmaceuticals LLC × 3 listings | NDA | View NDC → |
| 1 g/100 mL | Topical | Kakshal | OTC MONOGRAPH DRUG | View NDC → |
| 1 mg/100 mL | Topical | L. Perrigo Company | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 50 mg/g | Topical | Northstar Rx LLC × 2 listings | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 50 mg/g | Topical | Northstar RxLLC | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 50 mg/g | Topical | NuCare Pharmaceuticals,Inc. | ANDA | Find on DailyMed ↗ |
| 50 mg/g | Topical | Padagis Israel Pharmaceuticals Ltd × 2 listings | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 1 mg/100 mL | Topical | Rite Aid Corporation | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 50 mg/g | Topical | RPK Pharmaceuticals, Inc. × 2 listings | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 1 mg/100 mL | Topical | Strategic Sourcing Services LLC × 2 listings | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 1 mg/100 mL | Topical | Topco Associates LLC | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 1 mg/100 mL | Topical | Walgreen Company | ANDA | View NDC → |
Showing 33 of 33 products — FDA National Drug Code Directory. See every product, package size and price: browse all 33 Permethrin Topical NDCs →
📈 What people report — real-world data (FDA FAERS)
After a medicine reaches the market, patients, doctors and drugmakers can send the FDA reports of problems they think may be linked to it. Here’s what’s been reported for Permethrin Topical — a signal of what to watch for, not proof the drug caused it.
Source: openFDA, from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS). These are voluntary reports — they don’t prove the drug caused the effect, and counts reflect how often something was reported, not how often it actually happens. Reports also often name the very problem the medicine is taken for — a common reason to file one is that the drug didn’t help — so for a pain reliever you may see “pain” high on the list; that points to why the report was filed, not to the drug causing the symptom. This counts every report that lists Permethrin Topical in any role, so the total runs higher than the FDA’s official dashboard, which counts only cases where the drug is the suspect. For the authoritative figures, see the FDA FAERS Public Dashboard. Always talk to your pharmacist or doctor.
🏛️ The road to your pharmacy
How Permethrin Topical went from FDA review to the pharmacy shelf — the key milestones in its regulatory journey.
Source: Drugs@FDA.
🚨 Recall history
A recall is when a specific batch of a medicine is pulled from the market — usually a manufacturing issue, not a problem with the drug itself. Class I is most serious, Class III least.
Source: openFDA drug enforcement (recall) reports.
RxNorm Concept Web — From Ingredient to Every Form and Strength
This page starts with one ingredient concept (IN). The branches below show its dose-form concepts (SCDF), then the available clinical drug and strength concepts (SCD). Combination products remain separate concepts with their own pages.
RxCUI 33199 3 dose forms · 2 strengths
-
Dose form (SCDF) Medicated Shampoo RxCUI 377506In current FDA listingsClinical drug / strength (SCD) 10 MG/MLRxCUI 250387 -
Dose form (SCDF) Topical Cream RxCUI 377789In current FDA listingsClinical drug / strength (SCD) 50 MG/MLRxCUI 106387 -
Dose form (SCDF) Topical Lotion RxCUI 377788In current FDA listings
Look up RxCUI 33199 in the RxCUI Atlas →
RxNorm is the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s normalized drug vocabulary. Its concept hierarchy can include forms that are not currently marketed; the status on each branch compares that concept with current FDA listings. RxCUIs identify vocabulary concepts, not individual packages or manufacturers.
📦 Supply & shortage status
Whether Permethrin Topical is in short supply in the U.S. right now, plus any shortage history the FDA has on record. A shortage usually reflects a manufacturing or demand issue — not a safety problem with the drug.
Source: openFDA, from the FDA Drug Shortages database.
🏷️ Sold under these brand names
🏭 Manufacturers & labelers
RxNorm drug class
Permethrin Topical belongs to the Pyrethroid class.
Classified by RxNorm RxClass — the U.S. National Library of Medicine's standardized drug-classification service (Established Pharmacologic Class from the FDA, the ATC drug family from the WHO, and mechanism of action). Reference only, not medical advice.
🔬 Where this comes from
Core label, product, RxNorm, safety, and utilization data on this page come from the sources identified below. AI-written, editorial, and licensed sections are labeled separately.
How we combine label and product data
HelloPharmacist combines public FDA and NLM records; we don’t author the underlying clinical facts. We identified 15 FDA-filed SPL label sets within the page’s selected clinical scope after exact ingredient or ingredient-combination matching and applicable route/form matching. The representative label is the starting point for the displayed reference monograph; the 12 largest stored in-scope SPL records, which may include that representative, are compared section by section, and the longest available version of each section is retained. Forms, routes, brands, labelers, product-listed strengths, and product-record counts are aggregated separately from ingredient-matched FDA NDC Directory records; package records listed above are associated with the linked SPL; and the normalized concept hierarchy comes from NLM RxNorm.
Where a section is identified as AI-written, its plain-language text is generated from bounded label evidence. New draft drug pages remain in the admin review queue before first publication. Aurobindo Pharma Limited is the representative DailyMed label linked for verification and dates; it is not the sole source used for the page.
This is general education, not medical advice — always consult your doctor or pharmacist about your medications and any medical condition. For the exact wording of the linked representative label, view that label on DailyMed; some displayed composite sections may come from other in-scope SPL labels. Learn how we use AI and our data sources & update cadence.