Sulfur ointment (precipitated sulfur) 5% to 10%

Sulfur is used for several conditions and comes in ointment, cream, lotion, and soap. Sulfur in ointment is the formulation used for scabies and seborrheic dermatitis.

Sulfur can kill adult scabies mites.

The medicine will come with instructions, and your doctor will also give you a treatment schedule. The National Institutes of Health recommends the following:

• Before applying the medicine, wash your entire body with soap and water and dry thoroughly.
• At bedtime, apply enough medicine to cover your entire body from the neck down and rub in gently. Leave the medicine on your body for 24 hours.
• Before applying the medicine again, you may wash your entire body.
• 24 hours after the last treatment with this medicine, it is important that you thoroughly wash your entire body again.

National Institutes of Health information available online: www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/uspdi/202543.html.

If sulfur is recommended for treating lice, talk to your doctor about how to use it.

Sulfur is used primarily to treat scabies in infants younger than 2 months, pregnant women, and breast-feeding mothers.¹ It generally is used only when permethrin or other medicine cannot be used.

Sulfur is sometimes used to treat lice on very small infants, pregnant women, and nursing women because it may be safer to use than other medicines.

Precipitated sulfur is considered a safe and effective treatment for scabies.¹

Precipitated sulfur is considered very safe. It may dry the skin.

See Drug Reference for a full list of side effects. (Drug Reference is not available in all systems.)

Precipitated sulfur works well and doesn't cost much, but it is also very messy, stains clothing and bedding, and has a bad odor.

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Citations

1. Stone SP (2003). Scabies and pediculosis. In IM Freedberg et al., eds., Fitzpatrick's Dermatology in General Medicine, 6th ed., vol. 2, chap. 238, pp. 2283–2289. New York: McGraw-Hill.