Tick Removal made painless

20 years ago

Just want to share a valuable tip on removing any tick, small or large, EASILY & PAINLESSLY...

A School Nurse has written the info below -- good enough to share -- And it really works!!

I had a pediatrician tell me what she believes is the best way to remove a tick. This is great, because it works in those places where it's some times difficult to get to with tweezers: between toes, in the middle of a head full of dark hair, etc.

Apply a glob of liquid soap to a cotton ball. Cover the tick with the soap-soaked cotton ball and swab it for a few seconds (15-20), the tick will come out on its own and be stuck to the cotton ball when you lift it away.

This technique has worked every time I've used it (and that was frequently), and it's much less traumatic for the patient and easier for me. Unless someone is allergic to soap, I can't see that this would be damaging in any way. I even had my doctor's wife call me for advice because she had one stuck to her back and she couldn't reach it with tweezers. She used this method and immediately called me back to say,

"It worked!"

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Comments (10)

mylu
20 years ago
What forum is this?
patrick_nh
20 years ago
Very nice, I'll be interested to see how well it works, but two questions:

1. Why bother? I've never known tick removal by the regular grab and yank method to be anything near painful.

2. How was your doctor's wife able to reach an area on her back with a cotton ball that she couldn't reach with tweezers?
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brendan_of_bonsai
20 years ago
It could have been a proficiency thing, a cotton ball is larger than the effective area of tweezers and not so dependant on angle of attack.
mylu
20 years ago
Somebody explain to me why this thread is here?
busman
Original Author
20 years ago
The post I made was a pass on from a reliable sourse of mine in the medical field. I was only trying to pass on a useful piece of info but I see all I got was a bunch of moronic responses. For the He man type, go rip it out and maybe have that tick infects you. When the Lyme disease hits your area you won't consider it funny.
Farewell. You'll never hear from me again.
Embothrium
20 years ago
And so busman hits the road. Before then I was able to grasp that he might have thought

1. Those working outdoors alot might be interested in dealing with ticks

2. Some of those interested in dealing with ticks might like to know how to do it with something other than tweezers

I also thought someone might have some beef about his post, but then someone often has a beef about many of the posts here.
mylu
20 years ago
Bboy.. thanks for the explanation... I kinda figured that out already. No beef at all just didn't get it at first.
Fact is we live on a farm. Ticks are a problem but more for the dog then us.

The main concern from ticks is not the removal but to make sure the critter doesn't regurgitate into your skin. ThatÂs how they infect others. Ticks also spend most of their time (can be up to one year) sitting in one spot on long grasses or hanging tree branches waiting for a host. Keeping the grass short will help eliminate the threat.

Do city folk actually have ticks?
west_texas_peg
20 years ago
I live in a small town and yes, we have ticks. I just had one attached to a very tender part of my body!

We have the larger 'dog' ticks so they are easier to see. I was so upset when I saw it I didn't even think, I just grabbed hold of it with my fingernails and ripped it off. Used Neosporin on it because it already was looking infected. Today it appears to be healing.

We have very little grass and it is short. I spend several hours a day in my garden. Our dog appears to have missed the tick this time. Usually she gives the tick a free ride from the yard to the inside of the house then the tick crawls on me after I get into bed...most times I feel it but this time I never felt it and it latched on.

I will remember this method of removal for future reference. Thanks so much for the post.
rosiew
20 years ago
Please check this out. http://www.snopes.com/oldwives/tick.asp

This debunks the information posted.

I too had a tick bite in a 'sensitive spot' recently. It's no fun reading about Lyme's disease at 1 a.m.

Rosie in Sugar Hill, GA
peggy_dieterdane_com
15 years ago
Don't know if it is true or not but it looks like you could actually encourage the tick to instill it's fluids into the host by using soap and cottonball. Not good if this is true.