Tick Removal

Ticks can be much more than a mere annoyance in the outdoors as they can transmit various diseases to humans. While you can take steps to help keep ticks away, including avoiding direct contact in areas they may be present and wearing insect repellant, sometimes they can be easy to miss. If you find a tick that has already decided to stick around, it is important to follow these steps in order to remove it properly:

• Grasp the tick as close to the skin’s surface as possible using clean, fine-tipped tweezers.
• Pull up with steady, even pressure – be sure not to twist or jerk the tick as this can result in the mouth-parts breaking off and remaining in the skin. If this occurs, use clean tweezers to remove the mouth parts, or, if you are unable to remove the mouth parts, leave it alone and let the skin heal.
• After the tick is removed, clean the bite and your hands thoroughly with rubbing alcohol, iodine soap, or soap and water.
• If the tick is still alive, submerge it in alcohol, place in a sealed bag or container, wrap tightly with tape, or flush it down the toilet. Never crush a tick with your fingers.

There are many folklore remedies you may have heard, such as “painting” the tick with nail polish or petroleum jelly, or using heat from a match to make the tick detach, but the steps above ensure that the ultimate goal of removing the tick as soon as possible is achieved. Do not wait for the tick to detach on its own.