Prompt Tick Removal & Effective Bite Treatment in Chestnut Hill, MA

If you live in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, you share some beautifully wooded areas with some not-so-friendly insects. Most notably, ticks are around all year long and especially prevalent during the spring and summer months. At PhysicianOne Urgent Care, we see many patients with tick-related concerns. But you don’t have to let the prospect of running into these tiny, spider-like creatures prevent you from spending time in the great outdoors. When you take appropriate precautions, you can peacefully coexist with ticks! And if needed, PhysicianOne Urgent Care is here to provide prompt tick removal and bite treatment services.

Because ticks are so tiny and secretive and their bites are often painless, they are easily able to avoid detection. Therefore, if you will be spending time in a tick habitat—which is essentially everywhere outdoors other than the pavement—the best way to prevent tick bites is to wear light-colored, long pants tucked into your socks and a light-colored, long-sleeved shirt tucked into your pants. This will make it easier for you to see ticks crawling on you and also more difficult for the ticks to reach your skin. Additionally, be sure to spray your clothing and exposed skin with an effective tick repellent.

Found a Tick on Your Skin? Don’t Panic!

In most cases, a tick bite is not a medical emergency (unless it causes a severe allergic reaction). However, it is important to remove a tick from your skin as soon as possible, because some ticks carry harmful germs, such as the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. Even if you are bitten by an infected tick, you can usually avoid infection by removing the tick from your skin within 36 hours. Here’s how: Using sharp tweezers, grab the tick as close to your skin as possible, then gently but firmly pull straight upward. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this is the only safe and effective way to remove a tick. Forget about applying hot matches, petroleum jelly, and the like, which will only serve to upset the tick and cause it to burrow more deeply into your skin. You don’t want that!

If you’ve noticed a tick on your skin and you’re not comfortable removing it yourself, come to PhysicianOne Urgent Care for tick removal and bite treatment. If necessary, we can also provide Lyme disease testing and treatment.