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FakeNoose

(32,356 posts)
Sat Jul 17, 2021, 11:49 AM Jul 2021

Tick Bites: How to Remove a Tick

Summer and early fall months are the time we're more likely to encounter a tick. Checking for ticks is not for the squeamish, but it needs to be done regularly during tick season if you go outdoors. Don’t be shy to ask for help — you can’t see everywhere ticks may lurk.

Ticks love the dark, damp creases and folds of your body. Check all along the hairline, behind your ears, in your armpits, behind your knees, and between your legs. Ticks tend to crawl upwards, so if they hopped on at ground level they may migrate as far as your head.

If you should find a tick: First of all, don’t panic. Not all ticks carry Lyme disease and even if this one does, you stand a good chance of avoiding infection if you remove the beastie within the first 24 hours.

To remove a tick once it has become attached to you, firmly grasp it as close to the head as you can with fine-tipped tweezers, and in one steady motion pull the tick up and away from the skin. Be careful not to squish its body.

This next advice is very important: Do not twist it out, cover it with petroleum jelly, douse it with alcohol, or dab at it with a hot match. These ideas aimed at bugging the tick to get it out can actually cause it to inject more mouth secretions into your system, thus increasing the chances of infection.

However, don’t worry if the mouthparts remain in the skin; they alone do not carry much of the bacteria that cause disease, but rather serve as a conduit to pass them from the tick’s body into a host. Put the tick in a jar of alcohol to kill it. Then treat the bite with antiseptic.

Write on your calendar the date you were bitten. Keep an eye on the site of the bite and make sure you know what early symptoms of the disease look like, so you can recognize them in case they appear.


This handy advice comes from a book I'm reading - Deerproofing Your Yard & Garden by Rhonda Massingham Hart.


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PortTack

(32,606 posts)
2. Thank you for posting. As someone who struggled with an undiagnosed case of Lyme Disease,
Sat Jul 17, 2021, 11:53 AM
Jul 2021

I can speak to the importance of the Correct removal of the tick to prevent infection

Jilly_in_VA

(9,854 posts)
3. We have a gadget
Sat Jul 17, 2021, 11:56 AM
Jul 2021

called a "Tick Lasso" that does a bang-up job. I believe husband got it from Amazon. We even used it on one of the skittish kitties once.

intheflow

(28,408 posts)
4. Why put them in alcohol?
Sat Jul 17, 2021, 11:58 AM
Jul 2021

Every time I find one on my dogs, I pull it off, yell, "Burial at sea!", and me and the dogs gleefully march to the bathroom and flush the fuckers down the toilet.

FakeNoose

(32,356 posts)
5. I guess that's fine if it kills the tick
Sat Jul 17, 2021, 12:04 PM
Jul 2021

I think this author was emphasizing that pulling the tick off you doesn't prevent the tick from biting you again. So it needs to be dead, one way or another.



Bayard

(21,807 posts)
7. They are ravenous little boogers here in the spring
Sat Jul 17, 2021, 01:02 PM
Jul 2021

Since we're outside so much, we constantly pull them off and smash them. I can always tell when I have one because it starts itching like crazy.

And they can indeed get in the darndest places!

But this time of year, they're pretty much done.

lastlib

(22,982 posts)
8. Side note: Use tick repellent (with DEET) if you are going into tick territory.
Sat Jul 17, 2021, 01:27 PM
Jul 2021

Apply to legs (especially ankles above socks) and abdomen.


* * * NOTE OF CAUTION! * * *

If your DEET bug repellent is more than two years old, trash it and get new stuff. It gets more potent with age, and old DEET can cause severe chemical burns on skin it comes in contact with. I had a friend wind up in an ER because he applied DEET from a bottle that was probably five years old. It CAN be nasty, and not worth the risk!

FakeNoose

(32,356 posts)
9. Wow - good to know
Sat Jul 17, 2021, 01:51 PM
Jul 2021


Usually I get Deep Woods or Cutter, but I haven't bought any yet this year. I never realized that using older cans isn't safe. Thanks!


Vinca

(50,172 posts)
11. I've read about the way to safely remove ticks, but invariably, when I find one on myself, I
Sat Jul 17, 2021, 03:31 PM
Jul 2021

freak out, grab the little bugger with a thumb and forefinger as close to the skin as possible and yank it out. So far so good. I wash my hands and clean the area with alcohol. This has been the summer of ticks where we live. They're everywhere. A couple of days ago during some of the heavy rains I noticed they've even taken to latching themselves onto the outside of our screens! We douse ourselves in anti-tick spray when we go out. I've had much better luck with cedar-based sprays from the natural foods store than any of the chemically sprays sold elsewhere.

elias7

(3,976 posts)
13. Thanks...People need to know you don't need to get the whole thing out
Sat Jul 17, 2021, 05:20 PM
Jul 2021

It’s really hard to convince people of that, but that has been the recommendati9n for several years now. Digging out all the mouth parts gets you all the way down to a deeper fascial layer and is somewhat painstaking (New Hampshire ER person here)…

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