Lyme Kingston
Serving Kingston and Surrounding areas
Published on Apr 24, 2013
Ticks attach to the skin with their mouthparts to draw blood. Once imbedded, their mouthparts are "glued" to the skin. Proper tick removal uses fine tweezers to grab the ticks mouthparts and pull the tick off without squeezing the body, which can inject tick saliva and potential disease organisms into your blood stream.
There are several how to videos on tick removal, some very dangerous. Please be very careful. The last thing you want to do is upset the tick. A bothered tick is more likely to regurgitate its saliva. It is inside the saliva where the bacteria, viruses and protozoans are found. You want to pinch off his mouth ASAP. The safest way is with a pair of fine or needle nose tweezers as demonstrated below. I would not recommend moving the tick around as much as this person does on the second tick, it is dangerous to move them that much, however they were trying to show you how the tick becomes attached.
NEVER DO THE FOLLOWING
Never grab and squeeze the body, whether with your fingers or inappropriate tweezers. Do not use a Q-Tip or put any cream/liquid on the tick to smother it.
SPECIAL NOTE
Recently a tick removal concept has gained in popularity. The peppermint oil removal technique.
This is not a safe way to remove ticks.
This article in Men's Health Magazine, May 26, 2017, Why You Should Never Use Peppermint Oil to Remove a Tick brooches this issue.
Lyme Kingston strongly advises against any method that does not securely pinch off the ticks mouth parts.
ANY STRESS CAN CAUSE REGURGITATION. The ticks gut contents are the source of the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.
Only by keeping the mouth parts closed can you be sure of effective safe removal.