We just returned from a needless trip to the pediatrician's office. Found a wood tick on Abby's scalp this past weekend. Pulled it out but only got the body...head was still stuck in there. Nasty. Daddy even tried to get it out with a sterile needle. No such luck.
In case you're wondering what the proper procedures are regarding wood ticks, per our wonderful pediatrician, they are as follows:
1.) Pull it out. Period. Use tweezers and get as close to the skin as you can. (Just like I did.) Some of you may have heard to use Vaseline to suffocate it...well, for starters, Vaseline takes hours to work if it's going to work at all. And the Doc said it's kind of pointless as Vaseline only works if the tick is not really embedded very far anyway--in which case pulling it out is still better--quicker and less messy too. (Plus, the Doc said "who wants to leave a living tick on your child's head for hours once you know it's there?")
2.) If the head is still in there, no biggie--believe it or not. (Our bodies will work it out just like a sliver.) The tick's dead and has lost the ability to do anything more. Simply put Neosporin or Bacitracin on it 2x per day for 2-3 days. The body will enclose the foreign tick part and expel it, probably along with some pus. Gross but painless.
If I can save a child from a needless needle picking session, or a mom from a needless trip to the doctor's office (and needless $20 copay) then this post was worth it.
Happy trails!
Oh, FYI the Doc also said all of the above holds true in the case of a deer tick as well, in case you're wondering.
6 comments:
Well, thankyou my dear friend! I'm sure we will encounter use of this information sooner or later this spring. Ick Ick Ick I really do not like ticks. The last time I could not get one out of Owen's head I called my brother in law, brent, to come over and get it, he did and all was fine ... I know, I'm such a wimp.
Oh you really need to come on over and read my Not Me Monday, I think you might like this game ;-)
KJ - Thank you! While we are on the subject of needless trips to the Dr. here's my tip: for an item stuck up your child's nose, simply cover the remaining nostril and blow through the mouth. It may pop right out and save you an ER visit! In our case, that info would have saved us $150.
Ticks gross me out! Thankfully we've never had to deal with them. We've either been lucky or my kids need to get out more. I do remember one time we were walking/biking on a trail with the kids and I found a tick crawling up Emma's hair. Pete got it off. I'm sure glad it never reached her scalp, but that incident prompted me to remember to check for ticks once in a while.
inthestory...$150 bucks...Doh! So far we've been lucky there--none of mine have been nose packers. (They prefer Poison Control calls.) I'll remember that, though, should Courtney go astray!
THANK. YOU. I had no knowledge of any of this.
SJ had a woodtick this weekend. I freaked.
Also, the idea of using vaseline really grosses me out.
Thank you! This is good to know. When I was growing up we did the Vaseline thing - gross! We also had to pull ticks off our dogs, but let's not go there...
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