The hardest thing about head lice products is choosing one. Some parents turn to a more natural elimination of this parasite by using products based on essential oils. But is it risk free? The association 60 million consumers alert on two oils in particular, that of lavender and of tea tree.
cases of gynecomastia
These oils contain powerful active ingredients that can cause undesirable effects if mishandled. These two oils are also suspected of being toxic, particularly following a report from the Lille poison control center in 2016. In this document, 3 cases of abnormal breast enlargement, or gynecomastia, in young boys. This “breast” appearance could have been caused by estrogen stimulation of lavender oil and tea tree. They are suspected of acting as endocrine disruptors.
The problem is that there is no, or very little, work on the potential toxicity of these oils, says 60 million consumers. The most noted, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, dates back to 2007 and there again describes cases of gynecomastia. After stopping the use of cosmetics based on essential oil of lavender and tea tree, the symptoms had regressed.
Today, even if there is no certainty about the effects of these oils on our hormonal system, health authorities such as Health Insurance, advise the use of anti-lice products based on insecticide. “Essential oils have not been proven to be effective and may be responsible for allergies”, can we read on Ameli.fr
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