Agreement Remove Tick For Free

Use clean, fine-tipped tweezers to grasp the tick as close to the skin's surface as possible. Pull upward with steady, even pressure. Don't twist or jerk the tick; this can cause the mouth-parts to break off and remain in the skin. If this happens, remove the mouth-parts with tweezers.

The CDC discourages "folklore remedies" like nail polish, petroleum jelly (Vaseline), and heat that lift the tick away from the skin, since they rely on waiting for a tick to detach, which takes longer.

The best way to remove a tick is to use tweezers. The easiest and simplest way to make a tick back out is to detach it manually with tweezers. Grasp the tick with the tweezers as close to the skin's surface as possible. Pull the tick upward with steady, even pressure without twisting the tick.

Touching it with a hot match is a common one. Others include covering it with petroleum jelly or nail polish (in theory to suffocate it), or freezing it off. These are all supposed to make the tick back out of the skin on its own.

If the part of the head breaks off when you pull the tick out, that's OK. You can try to remove it with tweezers, but if you can't, it's no problem. Your skin will heal.

Do not twist the tick when pulling it out. Do not try to kill, smother, or lubricate the tick with oil, alcohol, petroleum jelly, or similar material while the tick is still embedded in the skin.

To remove a tick that is embedded in the skin, grasp the tick as close to the skin's surface as possible, using tweezers if available. Pull upward with a steady, continuous motion. To ensure the whole tick is removed, try not to twist it or jerk it.