Prompt removal is the key to avoiding tick-related disease, but it’s not a difficult process.
Various tools can be used to remove ticks, keeping a few pointers in mind.
Don’t use your fingers because squeezing the tick could release infected blood or saliva into your skin.
Illustration by Zoe Hansen for Verywell Health
Tick saliva can also lead to other kinds of infections or allergic reactions.
On Someone Else
If you are removing a tick from another person, stay calm.
It will be easier to grasp the tick if the person does not flinch.
This can help reduce any discomfort as you pull it out.
Remember to pull straight up when you remove it, with a steady pressure.
Take a pair of tweezers, grasp the tick, and pull it up with steady, even pressure.
If your pet is wriggly, get someone to hold them.
If you’re using a tick removal equipment, slide it under the tick and pull it out.
Once the tick is removed, clean the area with an antiseptic, such as rubbing alcohol.
Be careful not to get any blood or tick saliva on you.
Keep an eye on the area and look for signs of infection.
If you see any, contact a veterinarian.
If you’ve been in an area with ticks, examine your skin, including your scalp, carefully.
Tick Bite Aftercare
Clean and disinfect the areawith soap and water and a disinfectant like rubbing alcohol.
You might see a small bump like a pimple, which is a normal response to a tick bite.
Keep checking the area for about 30 days.
Summary
Removing a tick, whether it is attached to you or not, is straightforward.
Remove it as soon as possible.
Grasp the tick with clean tweezers or a tick-removal gear and pull steadily, straight up.
American Academy of Pediatrics.How to remove a tick.
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.Removing ticks: the do’s and don’ts.
Nuttall PA.Tick saliva and its role in pathogen transmission.Wien Klin Wochenschr.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Tick bite:what to do.
Tick Talk.The mechanics of a tick bite.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About ticks and tickborne disease.
