Worries, lice treatments may be source of sensation

has moved from the back of my head to the left temple. It’s always in one spot. It started on the back, the next time it moved to the left, and now it’s on the left temple. It can go away for a few days. It started right after the Cuba incident.

Is it possible that this was caused by the DDT or the lice treatment that I used? What should I do to get rid of it?

A: DDT was banned in Cuba in 1970, and although some reporters suspect the continued use of DDT despite that, there is no convincing evidence that this is the case. The spray that pest control used almost certainly was permethrin, the same substance you used to treat lice (which I don’t think you ever had). Permethrin is wellknown to cause nerve symptoms, especially itching and a pins-andneedles sensation. I wonder whether, with two lice treatments on top of the exposure in the hotel, you developed toxicity from permethrin.

However, I could not find any evidence of long-term damage from permethrin. There are no case reports of people having symptoms so long after exposure. So, while it is possible, that seems unlikely.

The fact that it moves around a bit on the scalp also suggests no permanent nerve damage, as does the fact that it can go away for a few days.

I don’t know what’s causing your symptoms, but many times, worry related to illness, infection or infestation can lead to very real symptoms. It is possible that you are so worried about having been damaged by the exposure that some part of the physical symptoms is due to being so (understandably) nervous about it. I certainly recommend that you visit a dermatologist to be sure there is not some skin condition you can’t see that is unrelated to the exposure.