I remember the day in Pennsylvania, 26 years ago, when I thought I was going to die. I got home from a wild summer day in the woods and my mother took me aside, as she always did, and checked me for ticks. This time I had one. It was on my head, hiding under my hair. But it couldn't hide from my mother.

She told me to hold still. Then she lit a match. She reminded me to hold still and then brought the match close to my head. I didn't see what she was doing, but I felt heat! That match burnt out and she lit another. Then she said, "Gotcha!" and grabbed something from off of my head. She threw the tick down the sink.

That's right, the lit match worked. It must have been a fluke, because it turns out that a lit match is a very inadvisable way to remove a tick! What's more, if you have to remove the tick from yourself, and the little parasite is somewhere hard to reach, using a lit match is a recipe for disaster.

Nail polish and hot wax are equally as ineffective. Here's the correct way to remove a tick:

*Using some rounded tweezers, take gentle hold of the tick. Be careful not to crush it, as the fluids in that thing may have some kind of bacteria. Can you say lyme disease?

*You need to get as close to the tick's mouth as you can.

*Pulling with a gentle, consistent pressure will encourage the tick to let go. The thing is that they sometimes glue themselves there, so if you pull too hard, their glue and head might stay behind as you yank off their body.

*Don't tug or jerk. Just apply a steady pressure as you pull. After a couple minutes, the tick will let go. Really, this works.

*Once the tick is out, put it in either a plastic bag and freeze it or in a jar or bottle of rubbing alcohol. Save it so that you can take it to the doctor if you get sick.

*Swab the area where the tick was attached to you generously with alcohol.

*If you get sick, call the doctor and go see them soon.

Now, this gets particularly tricksy if the nasty bug is on you and you have to remove it yourself. The main thing is to remain calm and keep your breathing steady. The other important issue is that you want to try to get some visibility. So use hand mirrors and whatever other mirrors you have so that you can see where you need to work.

Then just remember: a gentle, consistent pulling, not a panicked jerking.

And don't use the match trick!

Learn more about this author, Jared Garrett.
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