04/21/2026
Good information about ticks.
It's that time of year when ticks are coming out of the woodwork 🌿 If you're spending any time outside — hiking, gardening, or just letting the dogs run around the backyard — it's worth knowing how to protect yourself before you head out and what to do if you find one attached.
Before you go outside: 👕 Dress for it — long sleeves and pants, tuck pants into socks, wear a hat. Light-colored clothing to spot ticks more easily. 🧴 If you're using sunscreen, apply that first, then repellent. Use an EPA-registered repellent with DEET, picaridin, or IR3535 on exposed skin 🥾 Treat clothes and gear (not direct skin!) with 0.5% permethrin — survives multiple washes and kills ticks on contact
While you're outside: 🌲 Stay on the center of trails, away from tall grass and leaf litter 🛤️ Avoid wooded edges of fields and playgrounds — prime tick territory
When you come back in: 🚿 Shower within 2 hours — helps wash off unattached ticks and gives you a chance to do a full check 🔍 Full body tick check: armpits, behind the knees, scalp, belly button, groin, behind ears 🧺
Found one attached? Grab fine-tipped tweezers, grasp the tick's head as close to the skin as possible, and pull with steady pressure. No twisting. Clean the bite area with soap and water or rubbing alcohol after.
Skip the petroleum jelly, nail polish, and the "burn it off" approach — these can agitate the tick and make things worse.
Not all ticks carry pathogens, and not every bite leads to illness. Prompt removal is what matters most.
On tick testing kits: the general guidance is to skip them. Testing labs aren't held to the same quality control standards as clinical labs; a positive result doesn't mean you were actually infected, and a negative can give false reassurance if another tick got you without you noticing.
Watch for symptoms in the weeks after a bite — for Lyme specifically, that's an expanding red rash (sometimes, but not always, the classic bull's-eye), fever, or flu-like fatigue and achiness. Different ticks carry different pathogens and live in different parts of the country, so it's worth looking up which ticks are common in your area and what to watch for.
