How to Tell If a Tick Head Is Still in Your Skin

If you have noticed a tick latched onto your skin, there are a few things you should know. Here is what Dermatologists recommend for tick removal and tick safety so you can go forth into the great outdoors ready to encounter this mite-size foe.

How to remove a tick safely

When a tick attaches to your skin, it will typically live there for three to five days, especially after an outdoorsy activity like a hike (1). But they’re capable of staying on for much longer—up to two weeks.

When you find a tick latched onto your skin, you need to take steps to remove it as soon as you possibly can to lower the potential for disease transmission. There are some supposed at-home remedies for tick removal that suggest smothering the tick with petroleum jelly or painting nail polish or nail polish remover onto the blood-sucker—but none of these guarantees proper tick removal. Instead, here are the best steps to take after a tick bite, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

1. Grab a clean, fine-tipped pair of tweezers. If you’re not sure that it’s clean, give it a quick once-over with an alcohol wipe or, in a pinch, an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

2. Take a deep breath to calm down. Your hands should be steady as you remove the tick.

3. With the tweezers, firmly grasp the tick by the head. Try not to squeeze it. Remove it with steady, even pressure by pulling straight upwards and away from the bite.

4. Take a look at the area. The tick’s head or mouthparts may be left in the skin. If you can see them, go back in with your tweezers and try to remove any remaining tick parts.

5. Clean the area with rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizer, or soap and water—whatever you have available to get rid of bacteria and hopefully avoid infection.

6. The tick might still be alive after you remove it. If this is the case, don’t try to crush it between your fingers. You can kill the tick by trapping it in tape, dropping it in rubbing alcohol, or flushing it down the toilet.

How to tell if a tick head is still in your skin

If all that’s left is the head, you can usually see it on top of your skin. In the process of removing a tick from your skin, you may have inadvertently decapitated the tick. If so, the head of the tick will still be visible (likely very, very small) and firmly attached to the outside of the skin.

Getting rid of the head is similar to the process of removing the tick. It is recommended cleaning the area with rubbing alcohol before you give it another go with the tweezers, firmly grasping the head and plucking it off the skin with a straight, upward movement. If you aren’t able to get the tick’s head out, you may need to contact a doctor or dermatologist, as leaving a tick’s head or mouthparts in your skin can potentially lead to a skin infection.(2)

Even if it looks like the tick is completely gone, you should still inspect the area as close as you can—grab a magnifying glass if you’ve got one available. A small, dark, black dot on your skin might indicate some tick parts are left lurking. If the skin is firm, red, irritated, and if you feel a small lump within the skin, the tick may be lodged into the skin a little deeper. If this happens, you may need to have it surgically removed.

Head to your local clinic if you notice signs of infection or any type of skin rash at the site of your tick bite. Unexplained fatigue, joint swelling, muscle pain, fever, or nausea are also possible symptoms of tick-borne illness that warrant medical attention.

Read - Best Tick Repellent for People

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References

1. Informed Health, Tick bites: What Are Ticks and How Can They Be Removed?

2. Tick Removal - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf (nih.gov)