How to Remove a Tick Once It’s Bitten You

I’ve had a lot of ticks bite me over the years. You’d think I’d be used to it by now, but it still grosses me out to find a tick embedded in my skin. However, I have gotten better at removing ticks over the years.

The way you remove the tick actually matters. Irritating a tick during removal increase your chances of getting Lyme disease. The wrong method might also cause the tick head getting stuck in your skin, which is an entire different level of grossness.

Here’s what you need to know to remove a tick properly, plus some tips to make it easier.

How to Remove a Tick Safely

1. Use pointy tweezers or a V-shaped tool

You should always use pointy tweezers or a V-tool when removing a tick. Do not remove a tick with your fingers. You could squeeze the tick, causing the tick’s stomach contents to regurgitate into your body, thus increasing the chances of disease transmission. It’s better to wait a bit to get a proper tool than immediately tear the tick out with your fingers.

Note: It is very gross to find a tick attached to you, but resist the urge to immediately pull it off with your fingers. It’s often smarter to leave the tick attached until you can get a properly tool to remove the tick with your fingers.

Also read:

Larval and nymph ticks are so small that you’ll need finely-pointed tweezers.

2. Grab the Tick As Close to Its Mouth As Possible.

You want to grab the tick as low down as possible. This prevents you from squeezing the tick and causing it to regurgitate. It also makes it less likely for the tick’s head to snap off and get stuck in your skin. If that happens, don’t panic. Here’s what to do if a tick head is stuck in your skin.

Pro Tip: Gently pull the skin on each side of the tick apart. This makes it easier to grasp the tick close to its mouth.

3. Pull Straight Upwards

Using a gentle motion, pull the tick straight upwards. You don’t want to jerk the tick too hard or the tick head might break off in your skin. Do NOT twist the tick. Ticks do not have screw-shaped mouthparts and twisting does nothing to help get them out.

After removing the tick, check to see if any pieces of it remain. Here’s what to do if the tick head gets stuck in your skin.

4. Kill the Tick

If you remove the tick properly, it should still be alive when you take it out. You should:

Soak it in alcohol
Seal it in a bag and throw it away
Flush it down the toilet

If you are really concerned that the tick might contain Lyme disease pathogens, you can take it to your doctor for testing.

Never crush a live tick with your fingers as this could release pathogens. Admittedly, I have killed ticks with tweezers while on hikes, but make sure not to touch the dead tick and then disinfect the tweezers once I’m back in civilization.

5. Clean the Bite Area

Use alcohol, iodine or soap and water to clean the bite area.

Monitor for Symptoms of Disease

It is normal for the tick bite area to be bit red. However, it is not normal for the bite area to get red days or weeks afterwards. This could be a sign of Lyme disease. You’ll also want to be on the lookout for other symptoms of Lyme disease, such as fatigue and fever-like symptoms. See these photos of Lyme disease rashes.

Photo of early-stage Lyme disease rash, taken 17 days post tick bite.

As someone who has been bitten by ticks numerous times, I know how anxiety-inducing it can be to wait and see if you develop any symptoms of Lyme disease. Because of this, a lot of people consider tick lyme testing. The idea is that, if the tick tests positive, you can get started on antibiotic treatment faster.

I Don’t Test Ticks for Lyme

I personally have never sent a tick for Lyme testing. Tick testing typically costs $50 to $75 per tick, and the tests aren’t covered by insurance, so I’d end up spending a small fortune on lab tests if I tested each tick that bit me. But the cost isn’t the reason I don’t test ticks.

A bit must be attached 24 to 72 hours to transmit the Lyme bacteria. I am very diligent about checking my body for ticks after being outdoors, and do a morning and evening check when on camping trips. I also keep tick removal tweezers in my wallet and outdoor first aid kit so I can remove any ticks immediately and properly.

Because of this, even if a tick which bit me was carrying Lyme, the chances of it giving me the disease are very low.

I keep these pointy tick tweezers in my hiking first aid kit.

Tick Testing Makes Sense If…

There are some situations where it makes absolute sense to have a tick tested. These include:

1. The Tick Was Improperly Removed

The 24-hour rule for Lyme disease transmission only applies if you remove the tick properly. If you do anything to irritate the tick while it is attached—such as using a hot match to remove it or squeezing its body during removal—the tick could puke its stomach contents into your skin, transmitting Lyme disease.

Read: How to Properly Remove a Tick (with Video)

Improper removal: Do NOT squeeze a tick’s body when removing it! You must grasp close to its mouthparts.

2. The Tick Is Fully Engorged

Nymph ticks typically become fully engorged within 2-3 days and adult ticks within 4-5 days. If you find a fully-engorged tick on you, it has probably been there for a while—which means there is a good chance it transmitted Lyme disease if it is a carrier.

A tick before feeding (left) and an engorged tick (right)

3. The Tick Bit Your Infant or Young Child

The symptoms of Lyme disease are similar in children as in adults, but infants and young children might not be able to tell you that they are having symptoms. If your child doesn’t have the characteristic bull’s eye Lyme rash, you might just think they are being fussy or their fever is from yet another virus from daycare, when Lyme is actually the culprit. The symptoms could go undetected and the Lyme disease could progress into late-stage Lyme, which is much harder to treat and has a worse prognosis.

4. You Have Dark Skin

Black people and other people of color are more likely to get diagnosed in the later stages of Lyme disease. One main reason for this is because the Lyme rash—which is typically the first symptom of Lyme–is very difficult to notice on dark skin. As a result, many BIPOC people don’t realize they have Lyme until other symptoms become severe.

See: Pictures of Lyme disease rashes

5. You Want Peace of Mind

It takes anywhere from 3 to 30 days for the Lyme disease rash to show up if you are infected (if a rash shows up at all). Waiting to see if you get the rash can be incredibly stressful. It may be well worth the $50+ for tick testing to get peace of mind.

How to Send a Tick for Testing

Each lab has its own protocols for tick testing, but you generally must:

Put the tick in a zip baggie and seal it closed.
If the tick is still alive:
1. Put a small piece (1″x1″) of damp paper towel in the baggie.
2. Place the first baggie in a second baggie and seal it closed.
If the tick is engorged: Wrap the baggie with bubble wrap. Alternatively, use a cushioned envelope. This is to prevent the tick’s body from getting crushed during transport.
Put the tick in an envelope.
Label the envelope, or include the lab submission form, and send the tick for testing.

Do NOT:

Burn the tick
Coat the tick with anything, such as nail polish remover or essential oils
Send the tick in alcohol
Wrap the tick in toilet paper

There’s no time limit for testing a tick for Lyme. However, it’s best to do the test as soon as possible so you can get treatment quickly.

How NOT to Remove a Tick

There are plenty of other ways to remove ticks, and some of them are easier than using tweezers. Yet, virtually all of these tick removal methods are NOT safe.

Anytime you irritate the tick when removing it, the tick can start to salivate. The saliva increases the likelihood that disease-causing pathogens will get into your blood and make you sick. Some methods may also cause the tick to burrow deeper into you, which will make it even harder to get out and increase the likelihood of getting sick.

I’ll go over some of these unsafe tick removal methods below.

Squeezing/Killing the Tick While It Is Still Attached

If you kill the tick by squeezing it while it is still attached, it can push the tick’s stomach contents into the wound. This increases the likelihood of disease transmission. It also might cause the tick head to get stuck in your skin.

Touching a Tick with a Hot Match

This tick removal method irritates the tick, causing it to detach and come out. While it does sometimes work, the tick is more likely to regurgitate saliva into you. The tick might also burst from the heat, which will almost certainly release any pathogens in the tick into your body.

Liquid Soap on a Cotton Ball

Another effective but unsafe tick removal method is to cover it with liquid soap (often put on a cotton ball first). This method suffocates the tick, theoretically causing it to exit your skin as it searches for air. It is unsafe because the irritated tick might regurgitate into your skin as it exits.

Vaseline

Covering a tick with Vaseline works in the same way as the liquid soap method: suffocation. Like with the soap method, it is unsafe because it irritates the tick and increases the chances of disease transmission.

Peppermint Oil

Applying peppermint or other essential oils to a tick can irritate it and cause it to come out on its own. But, like with other unsafe tick removal methods, it increases the chances that disease transmission could occur.

Hydrogen Peroxide, Gasoline, Alcohol or Nail Polish Remover

Like with other unsafe tick removal methods, applying chemicals like rubbing alcohol to a tick can cause it to throw up into the wound and increase the chances of disease transmission. On top of this, multiple studies show the methods aren’t even effective: some ticks will stay attached even after slathered in chemicals for 30+ minutes.

Twisting the Tick Off

One method for removing ticks that is often recommended is to twist it off. The idea is that you can unscrew the tick. Some popular tick removal tools (like O’Tom Tick Twister) are based on this idea. However, evidence shows that twisting is NOT a safe way to remove a tick.

Ticks do not have screw-shaped mouths, so twisting will not unscrew them. Some studies do show that a twisting motion can decrease the amount of force needed to remove a tick. However, more studies show that twisting increases the likelihood that the mouthparts will remain in the skin. Further, experts warn that twisting can cause a tick’s potentially infectious fluids to escape into the wound.