Best Way To Remove a Tick

Using a Fine-Tipped Tweezer is the Best Way to Remove a Tick

Tick bites are serious business and can lead to deadly consequences if not treated properly. Knowing how to remove a tick is an important step in preventing tick-borne diseases, along with education and awareness to be proactive and vigilant when it comes to checking your body and inspecting for ticks.

Tick Removal

Removing a tick is not as simple as flicking it off your skin or smashing it like a mosquito.

It has to be extracted from your skin.

Stay away from suggested practices such as putting nail polish or petroleum jelly to try and kill the tick while still attached to you. These methods will not aid in removing the tick from your skin, as the tick has embedded itself into your skin, breaking the surface, and working its way in so it’s not easily removed..

Using a pair of fine or sharp-tipped tweezers, grab the tick as close to the skin as possible. Apply even pressure and yank it straight up and out, quickly. Avoid twisting the tick so that the mouthpiece does not break off in your skin. There are also specific tick removal tools that work well in this scenario.

Tick Bites

When ticks bite, they dig through your skin until their full mouth piece, covered in small hooks, is securely embedded in you. After they are fully attached, they feed on your blood.

During this period they have the potential to transmit diseases, such as Lyme disease, to you.

Not every tick is not a carrier of a disease, however, a significant portion of ticks are. With the number of tick sightings and Lyme disease diagnoses increasing each year, it’s important to take the proper precautions to avoid a ticks and learn how to remove and dispose of one you find it on you.

What to Do if a Tick’s Head is Stuck in Your Skin

Contrary to popular belief, if the mouthpiece and head does happen to break off of from the rest of the body, it cannot continue to spread disease. However, the remains can cause irritation to your skin.

Eventually it will work its way out of your body, the same way a splinter or a stinger would.

How to Dispose of a Tick

Once the tick is removed, it should be disposed of properly.

Do not try to crush the tick with your fingers. Instead, place a live tick in a sealed plastic bag before throwing it out, flush it down the toilet, or place it in alcohol to kill it. Make sure to clean the area where you were bitten with rubbing alcohol, and wash your hands well with soap and water.

If you are experiencing any symptoms such as fever, fatigue, or muscle pain within two weeks of being bit by a tick, seek medical attention as you may be experiencing early symptoms of a tick-borne disease.

Watch this video from NPR to learn more about how a tick bites.

If you are interested in preventing ticks from inhabiting your property, learn more about our Organic Tick and Mosquito control program.