Debunked · do not use
Matches, nail polish, petroleum jelly, and essential oils
Matches, nail polish, petroleum jelly, and essential oils make the tick salivate or regurgitate into the wound and increase pathogen transfer — do not use.
Do not use
CDC and the tick-borne disease literature warn against this. The steps below explain why and what to do instead.
Steps
schema.org/HowTo01
Do not use any of these to remove a tick. CDC warns explicitly against them.
02
Matches or hot needles. Burning the tick makes it salivate and regurgitate gut contents into the wound.
03
Nail polish. Suffocating the tick is slow and during that time the tick continues to feed and salivate.
04
Petroleum jelly. Same problem as nail polish: a stressed, slowly-suffocating tick keeps feeding.
05
Essential oils painted on the attached tick. No primary-literature support; the agitation effect is the same.
06
What to do instead: use clean fine-tipped tweezers, grasp the tick at skin level, and pull straight up with steady pressure.
Diseases this can help prevent
10 known