What is permethrin and cetrimide lotion?
Permethrin and cetrimide lotion is a topical anti-parasitic medicine. PRECET-MAX contains Permethrin BP 5.0% w/v, which kills the scabies mite, and Cetrimide IP 0.01% w/v, an antiseptic. The 100 ml bottle is used for scabies and for head lice. It is a drug, not a cosmetic, and the pack carries a prescription warning.
Permethrin BP
Cetrimide IP
On the skin, for scabies
Covers a full adult application
What scabies is, and how to recognise it
Scabies is caused by a mite, Sarcoptes scabiei, that burrows into the top layer of skin. It is not a hygiene problem and it has nothing to do with being unclean. It spreads through prolonged skin-to-skin contact, which is why it moves through households, hostels and families rather than through strangers.
The signs are fairly specific once you know them:
- Intense itching that is worse at night. This is the classic sign and the one people report first.
- Thin, wavy burrow lines a few millimetres long, often greyish.
- A rash in predictable places — between the fingers, the wrists, elbows, armpits, waistband, buttocks, and around the genitals.
- More than one person itching in the same house. Scabies rarely arrives alone.
A doctor should confirm it. Eczema, insect bites and other rashes can look similar, and treating the wrong thing wastes weeks.
Permethrin 1% vs 5%: which strength do you need
These are not interchangeable, and the difference decides what the product is for.
| Point | Permethrin 1% | Permethrin 5% (PRECET-MAX) |
|---|---|---|
| Used for | Head lice | Scabies |
| Applied to | Scalp and hair | The whole body |
| Left on for | Minutes | Hours, usually overnight |
| Repeat | After about a week | After about a week |
PRECET-MAX is a 5% w/v lotion, so scabies is its primary use. The pack also gives directions for head lice, where the lotion is diluted with water before it goes on the scalp.
How to apply PRECET-MAX for scabies
These are the directions printed on the pack. Coverage is the step people get wrong, and it is the step that decides whether the treatment works.
Do not miss the places the mite prefers: between the fingers and toes, under the nails, the wrists, the armpits, the waistline, the buttocks and the genital area. If you wash your hands during the 10 to 12 hours, reapply to your hands.
A second application about a week later is common practice and may be needed to clear mites that hatched after the first one. Your doctor will tell you whether to repeat it.
Using it for head lice
The pack gives a separate procedure for head lice. Wash the hair with soap first. The lotion is then diluted with water before use, applied thoroughly to the scalp, left for 15 to 20 minutes and rinsed off. The pack directs you to repeat weekly for two weeks.
Follow the dilution printed on your pack, or ask your pharmacist or doctor to confirm it. Do not apply the undiluted 5% lotion to the scalp for lice.
Everyone in the house, on the same day
This is the part that decides whether scabies comes back, and it is the part most people skip.
Scabies takes four to six weeks to start itching the first time you catch it. So the people you live with can be carrying mites for over a month before they feel anything. If you treat only the person who is itching, the untreated ones re-infect them within weeks and it looks like the medicine failed.
| Who | When | Even if they have no symptoms? |
|---|---|---|
| The person with scabies | Day 1 | — |
| Everyone in the household | Day 1, the same day | Yes |
| Partners and regular close contacts | Day 1 | Yes |
Clothes, bedding and the three-day bag
The mite cannot survive long away from skin. You do not need to fumigate the house or throw anything away.
- On the first day of treatment, wash clothes, bed sheets and towels used in the last three days in hot water.
- Dry them in direct sunlight. Advice written for colder countries says to use a hot tumble dryer. Sun-drying is the practical Indian equivalent and it is what Indian guidance recommends.
- Anything that cannot be washed — a quilt, a jacket, a pillow — goes into a sealed plastic bag for at least three days.
- Vacuum or wipe down mattresses and upholstered furniture. No special chemicals are needed.
Why you still itch after the treatment has worked
Itching can continue for two to four weeks after a successful scabies treatment. This is not treatment failure. Your immune system is still reacting to dead mite and mite debris left in the skin, and that reaction takes weeks to settle. Do not keep reapplying the lotion because you are still itching.
This is the single most misunderstood part of scabies treatment. People apply a second, third and fourth round out of anxiety, dry their skin out badly, and end up itching from irritation instead of mites.
What should worry you is different: itching that is still going strong beyond three to four weeks, or new burrows and spots appearing. That suggests re-infestation from an untreated contact rather than a failed medicine. Go back to your doctor.
For the itch itself, a doctor may suggest calamine or an antihistamine. That treats the symptom while the skin settles.
What the cetrimide is doing there
Cetrimide is a topical antiseptic. It is not an anti-parasitic and it does not kill mites.
The reason it appears in a scabies lotion is straightforward. Scabies itches badly, people scratch, and scratching breaks the skin and lets bacteria in. Secondary bacterial infection of scratched skin is common in hot and humid climates, and it is one of the more serious complications of untreated scabies. An antiseptic in the base addresses that contamination.
We will be straight about the limit of this: we are not aware of published trial evidence that permethrin with cetrimide clears scabies better than permethrin alone. The permethrin does the work on the mite. The cetrimide is there for the scratched skin.
Safety in pregnancy, breastfeeding and children
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding: permethrin 5% is generally regarded as the preferred scabies treatment during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. Very little is absorbed through the skin. Use it on your doctor’s advice.
- Children: permethrin 5% is approved for scabies from two months of age. In infants and very young children, the face and scalp are usually treated as well as the body, and a doctor should direct the application.
- Where oral treatment is not suitable: topical permethrin is commonly chosen for pregnant women and small children precisely because oral alternatives are avoided in those groups.
- No safety data specific to the cetrimide component in pregnancy or infancy is available to us, so a doctor should approve its use in those situations.
Side effects and precautions
- For external use only. Do not swallow.
- Avoid contact with the eyes. If it gets in, rinse with plenty of water.
- Mild burning, stinging or a temporary increase in itching can happen where it is applied. These are the commonest effects and they usually pass.
- Note that burning and itching are also symptoms of scabies itself, which is why people mistake side effects for the disease returning.
- Stop and see a doctor if you develop a rash, swelling or any sign of an allergic reaction.
- Shake well before use. Store below 25°C, away from direct light. Do not freeze.
- Keep out of reach of children.
Prescription status
The PRECET-MAX pack carries the statutory warning: to be sold by retail on the prescription of a Registered Medical Practitioner only. We state this openly because it is printed on the bottle. Scabies also needs a diagnosis rather than a guess, so please use this on your doctor’s advice.
PRECET-MAX product details
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Product name | PRECET-MAX Lotion |
| Composition | Permethrin BP 5.0% w/v, Cetrimide IP 0.01% w/v, in a lotion base q.s. |
| Pack size | 100 ml |
| Used for | Scabies and head lice |
| Route | For external use only |
| Contact time, scabies | 10 to 12 hours, then wash off |
| M.R.P. | Rs 132 inclusive of all taxes |
| Manufactured by | Hanisan Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., Derabassi, S.A.S Nagar, Punjab 140507 |
| Mfg. Licence No. | 2011-OSP & 2102-B |
| Marketed by | He Cures Biotech, a division of Ultra Healthcare, Saketri, Panchkula, Haryana 134109 |
| Storage | Below 25°C, protected from direct light, do not freeze |
Frequently asked questions
PRECET-MAX is a permethrin and cetrimide lotion for scabies and head lice, with Permethrin BP 5.0% w/v doing the work on the mite and Cetrimide IP 0.01% w/v in the base for skin broken by scratching. Directions printed on the pack, a prescription warning we have not hidden, and a 100 ml bottle that covers a full adult application. Marketed by He Cures Biotech, a division of Ultra Healthcare, Panchkula.
Disclaimer: PRECET-MAX Lotion is a drug for external use only. The information on this page is taken from the product label and from published clinical guidance, and is for general information. It is not medical advice and does not replace consultation with a Registered Medical Practitioner. This product is to be sold by retail only on the prescription of a Registered Medical Practitioner. Scabies should be diagnosed by a doctor. Individual results vary. Keep out of reach of children.
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