Lie Pie Title: Tick Removal
Lie Pie Classification: lie pie classic

Editor's Note:  When I was little, my family's preferred method for tick removal was a red hot needle jabbed into the tick's back to surprise him into letting go.  It never seemed to work, but I figured we were just doing something wrong:  maybe the needle wasn't hot enough, maybe we didn't spear him in the right spot, maybe he was just a particularly tenacious tick who scoffed at a piercing with molten steel.  Turns out, poking ticks with hot needles, burning them with matches, and drowning them in liquid soap will just make them mad!   Figure that!  Looks like tweezers are your best bet according to the CDC.   --Granny, 1/29/09

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Tick Removal

Please forward to anyone with children . or hunters, etc!! thanks!

A School Nurse has written the info below -- good enough to share -- And it really works!!

I had a pediatrician tell me what she believes is the best way to remove a tick. This is great, because it works in those places where it's sometimes difficult to get to with tweezers: between toes, in the middle of a head full of dark hair, etc.

Apply a glob of liquid soap to a cotton ball. Cover the tick with the soap-soaked cotton ball and let it stay on the repulsive insect for a few seconds (15-20), after which the tick will come out on it's own and be stuck to the cotton ball when you lift it away.

This technique has worked every time I've used it (and that was frequently), and it's much less traumatic for the patient and easier for me. Unless someone is allergic to soap, I can't see that this would be damaging in any way. I even had my doctor's wife call me for advice because she had one stuck to her back and she couldn't reach it with tweezers. She used this method and immediately called me back to say, "It worked!"

Please pass on; everyone needs this helpful hint.