Scabies is a highly contagious skin condition caused by parasitic mites. The most common signs of infection are intense allergic itching and an irritated bumpy rash. Because scabies is spread through skin to skin contact, it is important for sufferers to treat their condition before they infect others.

How Scabies Is Diagnosed

Scabies is usually diagnosed based on a patient’s symptoms. The symptom that healthcare providers usually look for is the appearance of burrows under the skin. These burrows will look like thin red, brown, or gray lines. If a person doesn’t know what he or she is looking for, these burrows can be easy to miss. Also, because scratching causes the burrows to collapse, they may be difficult to spot in patients that haven’t been able to stop themselves from scratching the area.

To diagnose scabies, a healthcare provider will usually try to remove a mite from its burrow. If their are no visible burrows, a patient’s skin may be scraped and tested for eggs and scybala, which is fecal matter left by the mites. 

While this is how scabies is often diagnosed, infested patients do not always test positive for mites, eggs, and scybala. Healthy patients may be infested with as few as 10 to 15 mites, which will make it difficult to find and identify individual mites. If other symptoms of scabies are present, a physician may base their diagnosis on the patient’s symptoms. This is especially true if a patient has had prolonged contact with an infected individual.

In fact, because scabies symptoms can take up to six weeks to appear, people that have been in frequent contact with an infected individual may want to treat the condition before it becomes symptomatic. This is especially true for sexual partners, family members, and roommates of an infected person. Preemptive treatment will stop the condition from becoming symptomatic and also prevent reinfection. However, before treating scabies, patients should consult their physician. 

Scabies Treatment Options

There are a few different ways that scabies is treated. The most effective way to treat scabies is by using a cream containing permethrin. This cream is applied to the entire body, excluding the face, before a person goes to bed. The treatment must be allowed to soak into the skin for at least eight hours. In mild cases, one treatment will effectively eliminate the infestation. In more severe cases, the cream will need to be reapplied seven to 14 days after the first treatment.

While permethrin is effective, crotamiton is often used to treat scabies in children. Crotamiton is also used as a lotion, but is less irritating than permethrin. This treatment may need to applied every day for up to a week, depending on the severity of the infestation.

Ivermectin is also used to treat scabies in adults and children over six years of age. This medication is available in both oral and topical forms. Oral ivermectin is used in combination with a topical medication to treat crusted scabies. Topical ivermectin is used to treat less severe infections, as well as sarcoptic mange. Patients that believe they might be suffering from scabies should consult with a physician to figure out which treatment option will best treat their condition.