How to remove a tick
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How to remove a tick
Removing attached ticks as soon as possible reduces the chance of infection.
If you find an attached tick, follow these instructions to remove it:
- Use clean, fine-point tweezers to grasp the head as close to the skin as possible and slowly pull straight out.
- Try not to twist or squeeze the tick. Ticks firmly attach their mouthparts into the skin requiring slow but firm traction to remove them.
- If the mouthparts break off and remain in the skin, remove them with the tweezers. If you're unable to remove them easily, leave them alone and let the skin heal.
- Wash the bite area with soap and water or an alcohol-based sanitizer.
Do not try to remove the tick by:
- burning it
- smothering it with:
- nail polish
- essential oils
- petroleum jelly
- nail polish remover
This can cause the tick to release its stomach contents, which can be infected, into the bite area. This can increase your chance of infection.
Visit your health care provider as soon as possible if:
- you're not comfortable with removing a tick
- you can't remove the tick because it has buried itself deep into your skin
- you have concerns after being bitten by a tick, aren't feeling well or have symptoms of:
- babesiosis
- anaplasmosis
- Lyme disease
- Powassan virus disease
Your health care provider may ask you:
- where on your body the tick was attached
- how long you think the tick was attached to you
- where you were (city, province, territory, and country) when you were bitten by the tick or may have been exposed to ticks
You may not notice a tick bite because ticks are tiny and their bites are usually painless.
Watch and share the video on how to properly remove a tick
What to do with removed ticks
You can take a photo and submit it to an image-based identification platform like eTick to help:
- identify the type of tick
- participate in the monitoring of ticks in Canada
If you are going to see your health care provider and want to bring the tick:
- put the tick in a sealable plastic bag or container such as a pill bottle
- record:
- date you were bitten
- body part that was bitten
- geographical location (city, province, territory, and country) of where you were bitten
Disposing of ticks
Kill the tick before disposing of it by drowning it in rubbing alcohol or by freezing it for several days. Avoid squashing ticks with bare fingers as infection may enter through breaks in your skin, such as close to the fingernail.
You can dispose of ticks in your household garbage once they're dead.
Tick testing
Tick testing, done by some local and provincial public health authorities, can help determine:
- which bacteria, viruses and parasites are found in ticks
- how the types of bacteria, viruses and parasites found in ticks change over time
- whether new or emerging bacteria, viruses and parasites are occurring in ticks
Tick testing isn't intended to guide diagnosis and treatment of tick-borne diseases. This is because:
- a diagnosis of a tick-borne disease is based on:
- travel history
- signs and symptoms
- exposure to ticks
- blood tests, when required
- a health care provider can consider providing preventive treatment after a person has been bitten by a tick, which can occur without tick testing
- a person may have been unknowingly bitten by a different tick
- ticks may not have been attached for enough time to transmit the bacteria, viruses or parasites that can cause tick-borne disease
Contact your local and provincial public health authorities for details on the:
- availability of tick testing programs in your area
- possibility of submitting a tick for testing
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