Posted March 3, 2023

The steps you should follow after having found a tick on your skin.

Many ticks carry infectious pathogens that can be transmitted through biting. Whether or not you get an infection is dependent on a combination of factors including how long it was attached to you, the type of tick, your immune system, and even geographic location. Luckily, most people who are bitten do not get tick-borne infections.

Lyme disease is transmitted from the deer tick and must feed for over 36 hours before it transmits the spirochete pathogen (Borrelia burgdorferi). This is because as the tick feeds and is engorged by the hosts blood, it must get rid of excess water. It does this by releasing infected saliva into the wound. The top row in the figure below shows the Ixodes scapularis tick, which is the only kind that carries Lyme disease. After landing on the skin, the Ixodes tick typically takes 24 hours before beginning to feed. Therefore, there is a time buffer of up to 24-48 hours before transmission in most cases.

https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/tickbornediseases/tickID.html

Technique to Remove Tick:

Use a tick removal tool and pull up gently and slowly.

Do not twist or jerk.

Do not squeeze, crush, or puncture the body of the tick. The fluids from the tick may contain the infectious pathogens.

Use a venom extractor pump over bite region

Ticks do not infect ‘venom’ into your body. Rather they release saliva to get rid of water after being too full with blood. Engorged ticks release saliva. The saliva contains the infectious pathogens (if there are any). But it is helpful to create suction over the area to pull any surface saliva or irritant away from the wound caused by the removal of the tick.

Pull suction enough that you have 1 drop of blood. But if there is no drop of blood, that is fine too.

Immediately wipe and clean the area with an isopropyl alcohol pad.

Apply a dab of activated charcoal mask (or activated charcoal nose strip) to the area.

As an alternative you can make a poultice of bentonite clay and andrographis tincture (from Buhner Lyme Protocol).

The activated charcoal will bind with the toxins in the saliva in the immediate area (if done soon enough).

If using an activated charcoal nose-strip, cut it in half.

Let the mask, poultice, or charcoal strip dry completely (15-20 minutes at least)

Remove and clean with a 2nd isopropyl alcohol pad

Swab area with povidone iodine. Let dry.

Topical application of povidone iodine has been proven effective in speeding up minor wound healing.

After the tick has been removed the skin is now an open wound and is therefore susceptible to infection. It’s important

Apply an anti-viral/bacterial essential oil blend to bite region.

Essential oils are rapidly absorbed through the skin and permeate the surrounding tissue area. They also enhance transdermal absorption of other topically applied medicines.

Some essential oils that could be used are: tea tree oil, cinnamon, clove, cypress, eucalyptus, rosemary, thyme, oregano.

Always mix essential oils with a carrier oil. Do not directly apply to skin. Some carrier oils that have proven antimicrobial activity are: fractionated coconut oil, jojoba oil.

Apply bandaid.