How to Remove a Tick & Care for the Bite

Ticks are parasitic insects that feed on blood. When they bite, the saliva that enters your body can cause some serious diseases, including Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tick-borne relapsing fever, tularemia, tick paralysis and babesiosis. To protect against tick bites, you can avoid wooded areas, grassy fields and brush piles, or take precautions before entering areas, including wearing light-colored clothing that covers the body and applying tick repellent. If a tick manages to attach itself to you in spite of precautions, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a specific method to remove and treat tick bites.

Things You'll Need

• Rubber gloves
• Rubbing alcohol
• Cotton ball
• Fine-tipped tweezers
• Warm water
• Soap
• Ice pack
• Disinfectant
• Topical anesthetic
• Dyphenhydramine preparation
• Benadryl
• Antibiotic Cream

Show More

Instructions

• 1

  Put on a pair of rubber gloves to keep bacteria from the tick off your hands. Locate an area on the body that has a red raised bump surrounding a black spot the size of the head of a pin or larger. This may be a tick. Apply rubbing alcohol to a cotton ball and wipe it on the affected area.

• 2

  Grasp fine-tipped tweezers carefully over the tick. Gently grab hold of the tick's body with the tweezers as close to the skin as possible. Pull straight up steadily and evenly without twisting or jerking until the tick lets go. If the tick's head or mouth parts remain in the skin, remove them with the tweezers. Flush the tick down the toilet.

• 3

  Discard the gloves and wash your hands and the bite area with warm water and soap. Place an ice pack on the bite for 15 minutes to reduce swelling and pain. Apply a disinfectant to the bite and use a topical anesthetic if the bite is painful. Write down the date the bite occurred to help medical professionals properly diagnose possible illnesses that may occur. Watch the area for infection and swelling.

• 4

  Apply over-the-counter preparations containing diphenhydramine on the bite to control itching, or take antihistamine pills by mouth. Keep the bite clean and apply antibiotic cream twice daily. Watch for signs of a fever or rash, and seek medical care if one develops.