Scabies can only be cured with prescription creams or lotions. Nonprescription medications are not strong enough to kill the mites. If your child has scabies or has been exposed to scabies, carefully follow your health professional's instructions for applying the medication.

If treatment with permethrin or lindane has successfully killed the mites, your child can return to day care or school after you have completed the last step of treatment, which is washing the medication off your child's skin. Treatment with sulfur ointment takes a series of days of applying the cream and washing it off to kill all the mites.

• Permethrin is washed off 8 to 14 hours after it is applied.
• Crotamiton is washed off 48 hours after the last application.
• Sulfur is washed off 24 hours after the last application.
• Lindane is washed off after 8 hours.

Symptoms of itching and skin tenderness often remain for several weeks after successful treatment. This does not mean your child still has scabies. However, if you are unsure whether you have killed all the mites, talk to your doctor before allowing your child to go back into a group setting.

In addition to using medication to kill scabies mites, be sure to launder all clothes and bedding that your child has used during the past 4 days. Wash and dry them at high temperatures or dry-clean them; any items that can't be laundered should be kept in an airtight plastic bag for at least 7 days.