Devices for removing ticks: choosing an effective twister

Last update: 2022-06-09

2022-06-09

For people who often travel to nature, as well as for dog breeders, a convenient device for removing ticks is a very useful thing. And although there is no urgent need for such a device (an experienced person can do without it by simply removing the attached parasite with his fingers), practice shows that removing a tick with a special extractor is much safer, more convenient and less painful than with bare hands.

In addition, there are often cases when, in the absence of a twister, it is very problematic to remove a tick with improvised means. For example, when the tick is very small, deeply stuck, and the fingers of a person are large and with short nails, which do not allow grasping the parasite accurately enough to safely pull it out.

Considering that extractors-pliers are quite inexpensive, easy to use, compact (can be easily placed both in a woman's handbag and on a keychain or even in a wallet), in the warm season, when outdoors, it is always useful to have such a device at hand.

Next, we will talk about how to choose the most convenient and effective tick remover for yourself - consider what they are, in general, and how to use them correctly in order to remove the attached parasite from the skin with minimal risk to health ...

Types of extractors for removing ticks and their classification

All extractors for removing ticks, regardless of their design, work on a similar principle: the already attached parasite is hooked so that the force applied then falls on the junction of the head of the tick with the body. Rotational movements (and for some types of devices, light loosening movements) lead to the displacement of the mouth apparatus of the parasite in the skin along with the "case" of hardened saliva, which reduces the strength of its fixation. After 2-3 turns (or a short loosening) further pulling movement leads to the safe extraction of the tick.

Most importantly, when using this method, it is extremely unlikely that the head of the tick or its proboscis will remain in the skin. It should be borne in mind that if a gnathosoma or the entire head remains in the wound, this will later lead to inflammation and suppuration, and also increases the risk of infection with tick-borne encephalitis and borreliosis if the parasite has been infected (this is one of the dangers that simple pulling out is fraught with parasite with fingers). Actually, in order to prevent this from happening, special tools are used.

On a note

In addition, it has been noticed that if the tick is simply pulled out of the skin with your fingers, then at the site of the bite, a large hard lump is often formed, which disappears, at best, after a few days. If the tick is unscrewed in time and carefully, such a bump usually does not appear. This is due to the fact that when extracting the parasite with fingers, a person inevitably presses on his body, which provokes the extrusion of additional portions of saliva (sometimes infected) under the skin.

There is no clear classification of devices for extracting ticks, but they can be divided into several types according to their shape and design features:

Extractors in the form of hooks, in which the lower part is flattened and a groove is made in it. In fact, they look like miniature plastic nail pullers, in which the groove serves as an element for gripping the tick, and the handle is the part that allows you to rotate the tool and comfortably hold it in your hands when removing the parasite. These are one of the most convenient devices to use, since they can be used to quickly remove ticks of any size, even from thick long hair of pets;
Flat extractors, in which the holder is in the same plane as the gripping element itself. These include, among other things, extractors-keys. They are convenient in the first place because they are very compact, and they can even be carried in a wallet. But the same flat shape also creates certain inconveniences when extracting a tick: in the thick long hair of a dog or cat, it can be difficult to catch a parasite, and it is not very convenient to rotate a flat extractor-puller located on the skin;
Special tweezers, which differ from previous devices in that they capture the tick like forceps. On the one hand, this is quite convenient, but on the other hand, it is difficult to rotate such a device, since you need to constantly intercept it with your fingers, and when intercepting, you can easily break the correct grip. For this reason, for example, the special Nippes tweezers are of little use for frequent and permanent removals of parasites;
Loop extractors, in which the gripping element is a tightening loop of thin wire or fishing line. Often produced in the form of lasso handles, in place of the ball in which there is a small loop.Despite the relative simplicity of design, such devices are relatively time-consuming to use.

There are also other variants of extractors on sale that cannot be attributed to any of the above groups due to the originality of their shape. Be that as it may, when choosing a device, it is useful to take into account the key design features, its advantages and disadvantages - this will allow you to choose the most suitable device.

Basic requirements for such a device

Imagine a situation: you are going to buy a tool for removing ticks, which would be convenient to carry with you on a fishing trip or take on hiking trips. Let's see what characteristics of such a device you need to pay attention to in the first place.

First, the device must have an element that will easily ensure a tight grip of a tick of any size at the point of contact with the skin. At the same time, it should be taken into account that the sizes of parasites, depending on the degree of their saturation, vary from a few millimeters to 1–2 cm. In addition, the gripping element of the extractor must in one way or another prevent the tick’s body from turning so that the rotation of the spinner leads to the rotation of the parasite.

Second, after capturing the body of the tick, ideally, it should be retained without additional effort. For example, simple tweezers do not meet this requirement, since to hold the tick, the legs of the tweezers must be constantly squeezed with your fingers. Finger interception can lead to unclenching of the legs of the tweezers and their displacement when the grip is loosened, and in some cases to subsequent crushing of the parasite.

Thirdly, it is useful to choose a pliers that will be easy to use with one hand.This is important, for example, if parasites have to be removed from a resisting dog or cat by holding the pet with one hand. Or if the tick stuck, for example, to the neck or in the armpits of a person, that is, in an area where it is difficult to work with both hands. It should be taken into account in advance that the procedure will most likely not have to be done at home, but on the street, where the pet will break out and most likely will not lie relaxed, as is shown in the videos demonstrating the convenience of working with extractors.

Fourth, the device should be as simple as possible, without small parts that can easily break, tear, crack or bend. It is desirable that it does not have any joints and moving elements at all - they are the weak points that limit the service life of the entire product.

Fifth, the extractor should be convenient not only for twisting ticks, but also for carrying with you. It is known that the main problem of such devices is their absence at hand at the right time. Such a tool is more often forgotten at home than taken with you on a hike or for a walk. Therefore, ideally, the ticker should easily fit into a pocket, purse or driver's license case, or it should be convenient to hang it on a keychain as a key chain so that it is with you wherever a person goes.

On a note

Understanding how the device should remove the tick, you can make it yourself from improvised means. For example, in the simplest case, a full-fledged extractor is made in a minute from a dry stick with a knife. It is even easier to use the thread from which the loop is made, but then pulling out the tick with such a thread can be somewhat more difficult than with a homemade ticker made from a stick.

It is also useful to read: How a tick bites: details about the process when it digs into the skin

Hook extractor

Pliers in the form of solid hooks with a groove at the end are considered the most convenient and therefore are often sold in pharmacies and online stores.

They meet all of the above requirements for tick removal devices and have several important advantages over other devices:

They are great for twisting pliers;
They are easy to operate with one hand;
Hooks allow you to remove ticks even from the long and thick hair of a dog or cat;
They are convenient to carry on a bunch of keys, in a camping repair kit or in a first aid kit, in small pockets. Some manufacturers manufacture and sell such extractors in special cases with convenient belt or pocket fastenings;
Such a hook has a simple design and is extremely reliable, there is literally nothing to break in it.

On a note

Interestingly, many models of these tools are produced in sets with hooks of two sizes - large and small. A large one is needed to extract large adult females that have already sucked blood, and a small one is for twisting small nymphs and males (males drink much less blood than females).

The principle of operation of such hooks is as follows: the flat end of the tick is hooked so that the slot captures its body in the area of articulation with the head. Then the handle rotates with two fingers, due to which the tick also begins to rotate, and after 2-3 turns it falls out of the skin.

Examples of similar hooks for removing ticks:

Tick remover Uniclean Tick Twister (Tick Twister, France) is a classic version of the extractor, which can be bought in two sizes at once.The disadvantages of this model are the absence of a hole for fastening as a keychain and the absence of a storage chamber into which the tick will fall and from which it is convenient to shake it out into a jar in order to deliver it to the laboratory for diagnosis of infection with the tick-borne encephalitis virus or the causative agent of Lyme disease. Two hooks in a package cost about 150 rubles in Moscow;
Trixie Tick Remover (Germany) - a slightly more "advanced" version of the tick extractor. Firstly, the device is more compact (its length is 6.5 cm), secondly, it has a hole and a ring for attaching it to a bunch of keys, thirdly, it has a deep groove above the gripping element, in which the removed tick falls and from which it is convenient to shake out the parasite into some container in order to save it for further research. Sold in one size, suitable for removing ticks with a body length of 0.4 to 1.5 cm. Price - about 100 rubles;
Tick remover Rolf Club 3D (Russia) - the package contains products of two sizes (for removing small and large individuals). Interestingly, on the handle of each device there are small tubercles that prevent it from slipping when rotated with your fingers. A set of two extractors can be bought for about 150 rubles;

On a note

Judging by the reviews, the disadvantage of all devices of this type is the difficulty of extracting ticks from the ears of an animal, as well as between the fingers of people, that is, where there is no room for rotation of the lower part of the hook.

Also on sale are devices in the form of medical probes, bifurcated at the end. They look quite presentable, but are impractical due to their heavy weight and the danger posed by a sharp forked tip.

Such devices are suitable for veterinary clinics, as they are conveniently disinfected with other metal tools.

"Spoon" for extracting ticks

A spoon or spatula is a kind of transitional option between hooks and flat extractors. Outwardly, such a device really looks like a small plastic spoon, in the scoop of which a slot is made. This slot captures the body of the tick, after which, holding the handle, the tool must be rotated around the axis of the body of the parasite. After 2-3 turns, the tick remains in the spoon.

The photo below shows the Ticked Off (USA) tick remover:

There are no significant advantages of such devices over hooks. But there are drawbacks - the specific shape of the spoon somewhat complicates the removal of the tick from the skin: the handle of the spoon must be twisted around the place of attachment of the tick, and this requires a lot of free space (while the same hook could simply be scrolled between the fingers). For this reason, it is inconvenient to use a spoon to remove ticks not only from the ears, but also from the armpits and from the thick fur of animals.

Otherwise, such spatulas are good: they are convenient to carry on a bunch of keys or on a dog's collar, they are reliable and there is practically nothing to break in them.

Lasso handle

This device differs from those described above by the device of the gripping element. Here, the tick is not clamped in the slot, but is captured by a thin loop of wire or fishing line. When you press the cap of the handle, the line extends, and the loop becomes large enough to capture a tick of any degree of saturation.

The loop pounces on the tick, the cap is released and the fishing line is tightened, pressing the tip of the handle to the body of the parasite.After that, the handle is gently rotated between the fingers - its lower end rotates along with the body of the tick and leads to its falling off.

The main advantage of such a device is the ability to use it on hard-to-reach areas of the human or animal body, including in recesses (on the ear or inside it, between the fingers).

In addition, with a lasso handle, there is less risk of accidentally pulling out the tick without rotation (such a nuisance is occasionally possible due to the rigidity of the lever when the hook or spatula is awkwardly moved, which has already been hooked on the parasite, but has not yet begun to rotate).

At the same time, the lasso handle also has disadvantages:

It is difficult to capture a tick in thick wool with it, and the smaller the size of the parasite, the more difficult it will be to capture it. In promotional videos, you can see how easily and quickly a parasite is twisted out with such a pen, but it should be borne in mind that in all such materials they show only large ticks that have already sucked blood and are convenient for extraction. However, nowhere is it shown how to twist a small nymph out of thick wool with a lasso pen - it is not so easy to do this in practice;
The handle is not very compact, it does not have a loop that allows you to hang it on a bunch of keys. The only option to carry it is in your pocket or bag;
A lasso pen has moving parts and is easier to break than, say, a hook or a spoon.

On sale you can find, for example, Trix Tix Lasso (Sweden), in addition, there are devices called syringe-lasso. They cost about 150-200 rubles, but many summer residents and dog breeders have learned to make them with their own hands from ordinary ballpoint pens, from which the paste is removed and a fishing line is attached to the cap (it turns out the so-called Dr. Demkin's pen).

It is also useful to read: Tick bites: photos

Key extractor

The peculiarity of key extractors is that they are flat, due to which the whole device is very compact and easy to carry.

For example, the photo below shows the classic Tick Key:

It is applied to the skin so that the tick is inside the hole, and then shifts slightly to the side to fix the tick with the narrowed part. After such fixation, it is enough to turn the key around the parasite several times so that it falls out.

Obviously, the main advantage of such a device is its compactness and the ability to carry it in a wallet, pocket, on a dog leash or on a bunch of keys. The disadvantage is the difficulty (and sometimes impossibility) of pulling a tick out of a dog's ear or between a person's fingers with it.

The cost of the Tick Key tick remover is about 500 rubles.

A few more flat options for tickers

Flat tongs work on the same principle as "keys" and "spoons".

Here are some examples of such flat instruments:

Pro-Tick (USA) - a device that looks like a simple elongated metal plate with a tapering part on one side. It costs about 300 rubles. Can be worn as a keychain;
Tickminator (Tick Remover Card) - a plastic ticker, both in size and shape similar to a regular plastic bank card, in which an exciting part for large ticks is cut out, the same for small ones, and a small magnifying glass is installed, which allows you to check whether the tick's head came off. Its cost is approximately 1000 rubles; .

The disadvantages of these tools is that they are not always convenient to rotate due to some cumbersome design. In part, this drawback is devoid of such a device in the form of a flat metal plate with a slightly curved narrow part:

Tweezers for removing ticks

Despite the fact that standard tweezers are not very convenient for safely twisting a tick, several original tickers work on a similar principle.

Here are some of the popular devices of this kind:

Trixie Zecken-Zange, Sentry, Tick Remover Tweezers, etc., similar to a pen with tweezers at the end. Their main difference from tweezers is that in the free state, the gripping ends are tightly compressed, and when the cap is pressed, they open. Therefore, to capture the tick, you need to press the cap, bring the tips under the parasite and release the cap. After that, the forceps can be rotated, carefully removing the tick;
Wire tweezers Anti-Mite Russian production. Perhaps the smallest and lightest. However, they are relatively expensive (the price is about 800 rubles) and they are not very convenient to attach to a keychain or put in a wallet;
Tseken Fix tweezers are a fairly convenient device, which, however, is quite easy to damage, for example, in a camping trip;
The already mentioned Nippes tweezers (Nippes, Germany) with long thin tips, which are sometimes used by veterinarians, not only to remove ticks, but also to remove other insects, as well as splinters, ingrown hairs and various foreign bodies.

The original tick remover Tick Nipper (USA) can also be attributed to devices of this type, however, it has a rather complicated design, is expensive and bulky, which is why it is not very suitable for constant carrying with you, for example, when walking a dog.

Rules for working with an extractor to remove ticks

The main rule for the effective and safe removal of a tick that has already stuck into the skin is that the parasite should not be pulled out, but twisted. It is during rotation that the adhesion strength of the “cement” case between the proboscis of the parasite and the skin is broken, after which the tick is easily removed (you can rotate the tick clockwise or counterclockwise - it does not matter).

Therefore, regardless of the shape of the extractor, when pulling out a tick, you must proceed as follows:

Pick up the parasite under the body in the place of its contact with the skin;
Fix it in the device (tightly insert it into the incision on the hook, grab it with a loop or tweezers);
Start rotating the device so that the tick begins to rotate with it;
After the parasite has fallen out, treat the wound with a disinfectant (hydrogen peroxide, ethyl alcohol, brilliant green, iodine).

It is important not to try to pull the tick out of the skin, even after several turns. The fact is that when making a rotation with the instrument, a person at one time or another still involuntarily pulls the parasite a little. This is enough for it to fall out when the engagement is sufficiently loosened. If you constantly try to intentionally pull out the tick, then there is a high risk of tearing its head from the body.

In addition, you should not try to somehow weaken the fixation of the tick in the skin by pouring it with oil, alcohol or gasoline. These measures will not have any effect, since the sucking tick is more likely to die than let go of its owner until it is completely saturated. That is, neither medical alcohol burns, nor the lack of oxygen will force him to get out on his own or at least “loosen his grip” a little.

If a tick is removed from a person in a region with a high incidence of tick-borne encephalitis, and the victim himself does not have the appropriate vaccination, then the parasite should be placed in some empty container and taken to the laboratory for analysis.This is worth doing, even if the tick was crushed and already dead - it is quite suitable for analysis.

Directly from the laboratory, a bitten person may be sent for an injection for emergency prophylaxis of TBE.

If the bite occurred in an area with a low risk of tick-borne encephalitis, or the person has been vaccinated against this disease, then the tick can simply be thrown out.

Regardless of the region and who was bitten - a person or a pet - after removing the tick for 2-3 weeks, you need to observe the victim. If he shows signs of illness, then he should be taken to a doctor as soon as possible for diagnosis, reporting the fact of a bite: ticks can carry various infections (not only tick-borne encephalitis), which are deadly for both humans and animals, and when infected with such infection, it is important to start professional therapy on time.

What to do if there is no special device at hand

The trouble with many tick extractors is that they are not available at the exact moment when they are needed. On a picnic, going to the beach or a simple walk in the forest, you can pick up a parasite and only then remember that the device was left at home. What to do in this case?

It is not worth delaying the removal of the parasite, since the longer it sucks blood, the more it injects saliva into the wound, which can be infected.

If the tick is large, then you can try to unscrew it with your fingers. This is especially easy if a person has long enough nails: the parasite either grabs the body or grabs it with its nails under it, after which it is gently rotated. After 2-4 turns, it usually falls out.

If the tick is very small, then you can simply try to carefully tear it off: the cement case in small nymphs is usually very weak and does not securely hold them in the skin. The probability of tearing off their heads is much lower than that of large individuals.

You can also use tools that are at hand, or that can be quickly made right on the spot from improvised materials. These can be, for example:

Tweezers from a manicure set, which, although not easy, can unscrew the parasite;
Simple thread. A loop is made from it, thrown onto the tick, tightened, and then the ends of the thread are twisted around each other. Gradually, as the thread is tightened, the tick also begins to rotate, falling off after a few turns;
A simple stick, on which a cut is made from one end to make a flat surface, a notch is made in it, and a kind of flat extractor is obtained.

On a note

It is important to remember that the very cementing sheath that forms at the site of the skin puncture does not harden immediately, but within a few hours. This means that a tick that has recently attached itself is relatively easy to tear off without the risk of leaving the head in the skin.

What to do if, when removing a tick, its head or proboscis remains in the skin?

If, nevertheless, when removing the tick, its head or proboscis remains in the skin, there is no need to panic. Removing the remnants of the parasite is relatively easy with a simple needle or sharp scissors from a manicure set. It is necessary to treat the tool with a disinfectant solution, pry off the proboscis (head) of the tick and take it out - like a splinter. After removal, the wound should also be disinfected.

If it is not possible to remove the gnathosoma, it is advisable to consult a doctor to have it removed.If this is not done, then after 1-2 days the wound will fester, and the proboscis of the tick can simply be squeezed out with pus. However, this option is undesirable, since squeezing pus is painful and fraught with secondary infection. Therefore, if possible, it is better to remove the remnants of the parasite before the wound suppurates, even in a medical institution.