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The FDA鈥檚 approval this week of an old drug called 聽for treating head lice comes as good news to folks who shudder at the thought of using a nit comb to remove lice. It will be sold as a lotion under the brand name Sklice.

Ivermectin works by interfering with nerve and muscle cells in invertebrates like the common louse, causing paralysis and death. It appears to work against both the flea-like adults and nits鈥攖he eggs that lice attach to hair shafts.

According to聽, the drug鈥檚 manufacturer, a single 10-minute application of Sklice gets rid of lice without having to comb out nits. Sklice joins聽Natroba, another no-comb medication, which was approved a year ago.

The clinical trials on which the FDA based its approval included nearly 800 people ages six months and older. While that鈥檚 a decent size for testing whether a new treatment is effective, it鈥檚 tiny for evaluating whether a drug is safe. However, ivermectin has been used for years as an oral medication to help聽聽(onchocerciasis), a scourge in many African and Latin American countries. Its safety record as an oral medication is good.

If you鈥檇 rather not use drugs or chemicals to fight lice, don鈥檛 ignore the value of a nit comb. As I wrote last year, a study published in the聽聽in 2005 showed that combing out the hair with a fine-toothed comb (the 鈥淏ug Buster鈥�) immediately after using conditioner worked better than a single treatment of an over-the-counter insecticide.