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What to do after a tick bite

One page you can print or keep on your phone. Most tick bites do not lead to illness, but doing this quickly and writing it down makes everything afterwards easier.

Tick bite action plan · LoneStarMap.com · Educational only, not medical advice.

Do it step by step instead

Emergency first

Severe allergic reactions, trouble breathing, or throat tightness require emergency care. Call your local emergency number.

Removing the tick

  1. Grasp it as close to the skin as you canUse clean, fine-tipped tweezers and take hold of the tick right where it enters the skin, by the mouthparts rather than the body.Don't squeeze the swollen body. That can push more of its fluids into the bite.
  2. Pull straight up, slowly and evenlySteady, even pressure, straight away from the skin. It may take a few seconds of firm pull before it lets go.Don't twist or jerk. That is what snaps the mouthparts off in the skin.
  3. If part of it stays behind, that's usually fineTry to lift the remaining mouthparts out with the tweezers. If they don't come away easily, leave them alone and let the skin heal. Digging after them does more damage than they do.
  4. Clean the bite and your handsWash both with soap and water, or wipe with rubbing alcohol.
  5. Keep the tick, or photograph itSeal it in a bag or take a clear, close photo next to something for scale. If symptoms show up weeks from now, knowing which tick it was is useful to a clinician.
  6. Get rid of a live tick safelyPut it in alcohol, seal it in a bag or container, wrap it tightly in tape, or flush it.Never crush a tick with your fingers.

Don’t try to make it back out

These are the methods people are most often told to use, and each one makes an attached tick more likely to release fluid into the bite:

  • Painting it with nail polish
  • Smothering it with petroleum jelly
  • Holding a hot match or lighter to it
  • Waiting for it to detach on its own

Then write down the date

The date you found it is the one detail everything afterwards depends on. Note it, along with where on your body it was and where you had been.

Published symptom windows on this site run up to 30 days after a bite. Heartland virus, Bourbon virus and alpha-gal syndrome have no firm published window at all. A window closing is not an all-clear. Most bites cause no illness, and if you feel unwell at any point, say that you were bitten and when.

Log the bite and get a timeline counted from that date

Call a doctor if

  • You get a rash or a fever in the weeks after the bite. Tell them you were bitten, when, and where you had been.
  • You get hives, swelling or stomach pain a few hours after eating red meat. That can be alpha-gal syndrome.
  • You have trouble breathing or your throat feels tight: call your emergency number now.

Sources

  1. 1.
    Tick Removal (opens in a new tab) · CDC

    Step-by-step guidance for removing an attached tick.

  2. 2.
    Tickborne Diseases of the United States (opens in a new tab) · CDC
  3. 3.
    Alpha-gal Syndrome (opens in a new tab) · CDC

    What alpha-gal syndrome is, symptoms, and its association with tick bites.

  4. 4.
    Preventing Tick Bites (opens in a new tab) · CDC

Going outside again?

Repellents, clothing, and the tick check that catches nymphs.

The prevention guide

This page is educational only and is not medical advice. See the disclaimer.