How to tell if a tick head is still in your skin
Okay, so you might have freaked out a bit and yanked the tick out as quickly as possible. Now you can’t tell if you got all of it…and it looks like the head might still even be attached to your skin. What should you do next?
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,” Jeffrey Hsu, MD, FAAD, a board-certified dermatologist in the greater Chicago area, tells SELF. If so, Dr. Hsu says, the head of the tick will still be visible (just 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, says Dr. Hsu. He recommends 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.1
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 some time has passed since the initial bite and you still have parts of the tick in your skin, the area might have become irritated, causing tick parts to take on a red-black hue.
“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,” says Dr. Allawh. If this happens, she says, you may need to see your dermatologist to surgically remove the tick. This is a simple, outpatient procedure performed with a punch biopsy tool.Most Popular
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.2 But they’re capable of staying on for much longer—up to two weeks (*shudders*).
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 guarantee 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):
However, if the tick has been attached to the host for several hours or if you’re unsure of the timeframe, you should save the tick in case you need to have it tested, should you notice unusual symptoms following the bite, Rina Allawh, MD, FAAD, a board-certified dermatologist in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, tells SELF. To save a tick, simply put it in a plastic container or bag, label it with the date, and, if you really want to make sure it is dead, shove it in your freezer.
To remove a tick from your dog or any other warm-blooded pet, use the same strategies as you do on human skin. You might need to get someone else to help you pull apart your pet’s fur and help hold your pet still as you use a tweezer to remove the tick. If you live in an area with a lot of ticks, you might want to invest in a tick removal tool from a pet store, per the American Kennel Club.
Can a Dog Get Lyme Disease from a Tick Head?
You may be worried about Lyme Disease and wondering if your dog can still get it if a tick head is left in their body.
Well, if you’ve removed the body of the tick, the biggest risk is behind you. Removing the body will kill the tick.
Embedded tick mouthparts do not transmit diseases, like Lyme Disease (source), and there is no longer a risk of tick paralysis.
According to the site Tick Encounter, in response to a woman writing in about the tick head being left in with concerns that the tick could still transmit disease:
“This is something that concerns many people but it is just not possible for ticks to
1) continue living once they have been ripped in two; and
2) for them to embed any more than their mouthpart (hypostome) into your skin.
The little red mark you mention is just inflammation around the tick mouth part that remains.”
However, there is now a foreign body stuck in your dog’s skin and that can cause an infection.
It doesn’t hurt to rub the area with al alcohol swab to sterilize it as much as you can but otherwise just monitor the area for a few days to make sure an infection isn’t developing.
If the head of a tick rips off and stays embedded in your dog’s skin, it can no longer transmit Lyme Disease.
If you are at all concerned with how the area around the tick head starts to look – for example, if it is red and swollen – then take your dog to the vet to get it checked out.
How do I know if the tick head is still in my dog’s skin?
When a tick feeds, he buries his head under the surface of your dogs skin — if you dont remove him properly, you can decapitate him and leave the head stuck in place. If you do, you may need to see your vet, as leaving the head under there can cause an infection. You must check the tick after removal to make sure that his head is still attached to his body.
Pulling the tick straight out in a firm and steady motion is the key to keeping his head attached to his body, but it isnt a guarantee — sometimes, the head will detach despite your best efforts. The easiest way to tell if you got the ticks head out is to look at the body, because unless you squeeze it hard enough to pop the tick, it will be alive and wiggling its appendages. Its head will be visible at the end of the body. If youre not sure if you removed the head, take a close look at the bite spot — the head will be visible as a black spot. Make an appointment with a veterinarian if you didnt remove the head, as leaving it in can result in infection.
Tom Ryan is a freelance writer, editor and English tutor. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in English writing, and has also worked as an arts and entertainment reporter with “The Pitt News” and a public relations and advertising copywriter with the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.