The Best Way To Remove A Tick (or Tick Head)
(Sorry it’s hard to see, that was as close as my camera would focus.)
So, I was washing Jada’s hair and found a tick stuck fast at her hairline. I’ve heard lots of different methods for removing a tick, and I remember my dad used to always light a match and stick it to the butt of the tick whenever I got them as a kid, but I wanted to make sure that I removed it the BEST way.
I’ve heard that if you burn the tick, or upset it while trying to remove it, it could regurgitate saliva and blood back into where it’s biting, which would easily spread Lyme Disease (among other diseases) if it has it. I didn’t want to take a chance.
After doing some reading, I decided to just pull the tick straight out as this is actually the recommended method of removal. I used alcohol to clean a pair of sharp tweezers, then my husband lifted the tick up with them, got the head of the tick in the tweezers, and quickly pulled it straight out.
A tiny piece of her scalp was still attached to it’s mouth, so we know we got the whole thing. Sometimes it will bury it’s head in your skin, and if you don’t get the head out it will just grow a new body. So, you need to make sure you pull it out as close to the skin as possible.
I cleaned the bite with rubbing alcohol, and flushed the little critter down the toilet. Don’t ever try to squish a tick, as it could spread disease. Just flush it.
Jada was a trooper, and was more interested in examining the tick than worrying about us removing it. She had been following the goats into the woods earlier, I’m sure that’s how she got it.
I’ve been diligently checking the kids for ticks every day now.
*Update: If you pull the tick off and its head remains embedded in the skin, follow Dr. Sears’ advice: http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/T110220.asp. I had to try this on another tick incident and it worked like a charm!
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Ticks scare me to death! It’s the whole lyme disease thing that makes me worry! My husband actually just found one two days ago when we were having a bonfire in our backyard (in the middle of town. I thought ticks was only a woods thing?), he just pulled it off as you suggested, but I’ll be sure to check him to make sure the head got pulled! I didn’t know that they could grow a new body! Thank you for this!
I HATE ticks…. We have a pasture (over grown) and when the kids play out there we often have a tick or two to remove. I wonder if I will ever get over the GROSSness factor!!
the first time I had to remove a tick, it almost made me pass out! I was so unused to anything “rural” I went to the doctor about it, after calling a few phramacies, and quickly learned (at least where I live) no one really knew anything about them much and werent worried! after that, I sort of lost my heebiejeebies a little. now, 17 years later,(and older) I just grab them off and flush them.
We live out in the boonies. We have a yard but it’s nothing to go out into the yard and come back with a couple of ticks on us. If I go berry picking, I’ll have a dozen or so.
The worst are those little tiny seed ticks. Most of the time you don’t feel them until it’s too late.
I use a drop of oregano essential oil if I have one burrowed in. Ticks don’t like the oil and will back out, making them easier to remove. Once out, I use a different oil to detox the bite area.
I grew up in the mountains and we used to have to pull them off of our dog and cats quite often. That never really bothered me too much (of course my mom did do most – I only had to do a few). I never got one but when my daughter was about 18 months old, she got one on her chest near the collar bone. Of course when I tried to remove it, I did not get the head – then we had to go to Kaiser to get the head out. It was a HUGE ordeal and she ended up with a scar from the experience. I hate the little buggars!
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