Why is there no over-the-counter (OTC) medication for scabies?
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Since scabies is an infestation of insects, the “medicine” (Permethrin) is actually a pesticide.
It’s controlled by the FDA and the effects are not fully understood in humans. If used incorrectly, it can lead to problems in some individuals.
Scabies is caused by a mite. In order to cure it we need some powerful poisons for them. However while there are things that are poisonous to bacteria and fungi but not humans the mites are also complex multi-celled creatures that share most of the basic working of the cell with human cells and are therefore affected by the same toxins. There are some toxins which work better on mites then humans, these are the ones used to treat scabies. One of these is ivermectin which have gained a lot of fame lately. The problem with all of these though is that they are still toxic to humans, just less so then to mites. So there are some potentially serious side effects to them. This means you do not want to take too much of any of them, you need to check if they will affect any of your other medical conditions and you can not use them if your diagnosis is wrong as it can cause other skin conditions to become much worse. This is why you are required to have doctors involved in diagnosing scabies and prescribing the medication.
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