Tick bite question
Posted: May 27th, 2016, 3:07 pm
As I mentioned in another thread, I recently picked up my first tick bite in decades. Not having had one since I was a kid, I'm finding I'm not sure what's normal healing and what I might want to have checked out.
I got this Wednesday a week ago. I'm normally pretty cavalier about tick checks, but this time I actually did look closely, multiple times. But sure enough several hours later as I'm getting ready for bed, Hey, is that a scab on my back, or...?
I couldn't reach it, so my husband pulled it. He didn't get it all in one go, and he flushed it before I saw it, so I have no clue what kind of tick or how many pieces it wound up in. He dug around a bunch and eventually said he was "pretty sure" he'd gotten the rest of the head. We only had clumsy, non-pointy tweezers and not a lot of experience with such things, and it's probably safe to say a lot of the "careful that you don't do this when removing a tick" things were done. Between the digging and the possibility of leaving bits in I've been checking every day for any sign of infection, but it was just looking clear and healing.
Now some nine days later, it's gone all red, a big smear around it a few inches across. No pattern, swelling, puss in the bite, or much of anything beyond a sudden big red blotch.
Shrug it off, wait to see if anything else develops, or have it checked out?
I got this Wednesday a week ago. I'm normally pretty cavalier about tick checks, but this time I actually did look closely, multiple times. But sure enough several hours later as I'm getting ready for bed, Hey, is that a scab on my back, or...?
I couldn't reach it, so my husband pulled it. He didn't get it all in one go, and he flushed it before I saw it, so I have no clue what kind of tick or how many pieces it wound up in. He dug around a bunch and eventually said he was "pretty sure" he'd gotten the rest of the head. We only had clumsy, non-pointy tweezers and not a lot of experience with such things, and it's probably safe to say a lot of the "careful that you don't do this when removing a tick" things were done. Between the digging and the possibility of leaving bits in I've been checking every day for any sign of infection, but it was just looking clear and healing.
Now some nine days later, it's gone all red, a big smear around it a few inches across. No pattern, swelling, puss in the bite, or much of anything beyond a sudden big red blotch.
Shrug it off, wait to see if anything else develops, or have it checked out?