They say you don't need to worry about the ticks you find on your skin; you need to worry about the ones you don't find...
This is the smallest tick Iāve ever found on me ā so small that I wouldnāt have found it by feel ā I had to think āhuh, I didnāt think I had a freckle thereā and investigate further. (I wouldnāt be sharing this photo if I didnāt think it might save someone serious hardship down the line.)
note: I was wearing full-length jeans when I acquired it
1. Try to avoid ticks latching (wear clothes/boots treated with Permethrin, wear repellant on your ankles and any exposed skin, tuck your pants or long-johns into your socks, don't brush against plants, do a thorough tick check when you get home, etc.)
Ticks are bad news. The most famous ones are deer ticks which carry lyme disease, but ticks can carry and transmit other diseases, many of which are not well understood or tracked. Alpha-gal syndrome can cause an allergy to meat! (and also other animal products: dairy, gelatin, etc.)
Tick Bites on Marthaās Vineyard Has Businesses Going Vegan
Islandersā diets are being upended by an onslaught of alpha-gal syndrome, a tick-induced allergy to meat and dairy.
www.nytimes.com
Iāve even read reports of people experiencing major psychological change from tick-borne pathogens. I suspect that a lot of people never get a correct diagnosis, and may never have realized they were bitten by a tick in the first place.
1. Try to avoid ticks latching (wear clothes/boots treated with Permethrin (you can DIY, or get pre-treated garments like my favorite Mosquito shirt), wear repellant on your ankles and any exposed skin, tuck your pants or long-johns into your socks, don't brush against plants, do a thorough tick check when you get home, etc.)
Feel for ticks, but also have a friend visually check the places you canāt see. Check everywhere, but especially your legs, joints (e.g. armpits) and hairline.
Hereās an ode to Permethrin for treating clothes/shoes by someone at wirecutter.
2. Know what kind of ticks are a threat in your area, so that you know what diseases and symptoms to watch out for and what treatment or preventative drugs might be available for immediate action. e.g.:
2025 Update: The CDC has developed a bot to assist folks who need to remove a tick.
3. Remove the tick: take a thread (if the tick is very small, you may need to unravel the thread to get something thin enough), tie it in a knot around the tick, as close to the skin as possible (you may need to have someone hold the tick perpendicular to the skin with their finger or with a drinking straw), and then gently pull until it comes off. (I've also heard that you can tape the ends of the thread to a pencil and then twist the pencil until the twists reach the tick and it lets go).
- šĀ note: Iāve only tried this on a dog once, and it was a bust. The hair (plus squirming) made it too hard to get the lasso flush with the skin, so I couldnāt capture all the legs. I now own a cheap specialized tool that seems to work great. Iāll probably keep it in my Advice: Car bin for longer trips
4. Learn about ticks more generally, and what you should do, given the type of tick and amount of time it was latched:
Ticks home | CDC
Information on ticks and tickborne disease. Provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
www.cdc.gov
