TICK REMOVAL

There are many ways to remove a tick - most of them wrong. Believe me, I’ve tried them all over the years. (By the way, I’ve not been infected with anything as a result. My father, however, tried to remove one from his navel cavity once - the wrong way. After the infection set in, he went to the doctor.) Basically, you need to get under the tick, on either side of its hypostome, and gently lift to extract the massively barbed hypostome. This can be done carefully with the side of a knife blade or with a commercial tick removing tool.

Never pull on the tick. All you will do is to expel its stomach and gut contents into the wound on your body, a quick source of infection. Don’t put gasoline on the tick; don’t touch it with a hot match head, don’t smother it with Vaseline or sunscreen. All of these techniques may cause the tick to vomit into the wound. Not good! And don’t stab it with an ice pick. You may find yourself mortally wounded.

                                                                                    Mike Kuhn

11-15-04