How To Remove A Tick From Your Skin

Home & Garden Blog

Finding a tick attached to your skin can be a scary experience. When this happens, you want to make sure you remove the tick properly. Since a tick attaches to you by embedding its head under your skin, you want to make sure you remove it properly. If you don't, the head can stay stuck under your skin. Follow the instructions below to remove a tick correctly.

To remove a tick properly, you'll need the following supplies:

• Tweezers with a fine tip
• A small jar of alcohol
• A cotton ball

To remove the tick, follow the instructions detailed below:

1. Dip the cotton ball in the alcohol so you can use it to clean the area where the tick was embedded once you remove it from your skin. Set the cotton ball aside for now.
2. Use the tweezers to grab the tick firmly, but without squeezing it too hard. You want to grab it as close to the surface as you can. It's important you don't squish the tick too hard, this can cause infection-causing fluids from the tick to make their way in your body, possibly causing you to become ill.
3. Pull the tweezers back and up, making sure the pressure you're using stays the same during the entire removal process.
4. Once the tick has been removed from your skin you want to put it in the small jar of alcohol and put the lid on it. The alcohol will kill the tick while preserving it in case you decide to take it to the doctor for identification.
5. Take the cotton ball and use it to clean your skin with the alcohol.

When you find a tick under your skin, you want to be sure you only use the method detailed above to remove it. There are other methods that people talk about to remove ticks, but these are not the proper ones and can increase your risks of becoming ill if the tick happens to be one carrying Lyme disease. Some of the other methods include burning the tick with a match, coating it with nail polish and smothering it with petroleum jelly. You want it removed immediately and safely and this is best done with the method above.

If you notice a rash on your skin or you develop a fever within the next few weeks after finding the tick, you want to make an appointment to get in and see your doctor. Tell your doctor about the tick bite and bring the tick in with you. If you have a lot of ticks in your yard, you should call out exterminators to help you with the issue.

1 December 2014