Is this a tick?

[Chupchup]

Just found something hanging out my leg. Still a black thing in leg. Is this a tick? Do I need antibiotics?

Looks a bit small, but it could be a hungry one! Get your good eyebrow tweezers and see if you can get a good grip, then twist it out; don't pull straight. Clockwise or anti, doesn't matter.

Have you been out in the countryside where there are sheep? Long grass? Check your dog too if you have one.

If you get half a tick out you need the doctor to look at it. Or a vet friend!

It's small but looks like a tick to me. So long as you got it all out I wouldn't worry.

Apparently it is. Still black inside leg. What do I do now?

Doctors or walk in clinic. Get it seen to today. Have a google. Looks like a tick to me.

If you can't grab it, try covering the area in Vaseline, it's supposed to suffocate ticks. I'd see your GP if it doesn't come out

In lakes. Been walking.

Don't try to suffocate it with vaseline or anything else. Looks like the mouthparts have been left in the skin. They need to be removed asap, as they can cause infection. You don't necessarily need antibiotics but may if you become ill or develop a rash.

Get seen today - GP or Minor Injuries

www.nhs.uk/conditions/lyme-disease/

If there’s a part of the tick left in your leg you need to go to the walk in clinic as they can get infected or cause a nasty reaction that could leave a lump on your leg. In the future you can get a little tool that you slide under the tick head and twist to remove it. Or alternatively you can use tweezers if you’re gentle and you pinch the tick as close to the head as possible and twist. You never just pull as you’re far more likely to leave a bit behind. As long as ticks are removed within 24 hours of them attaching it’s highly unlikely that you will need antibiotics as they take 24+ hours to transfer any nastiness they are carrying on to you. I have a lot of experience with ticks having four dogs that love running through the forest 😂

It looks like a tick to me. As others have said, it needs to be removed including the bit inside the skin.
A vets would also probably remove it for you if you can’t get a GP appointment

Definitely looks like a tick. To remove twist as you pull it out, as it burrows like a corkscrew. Flush it down the toilet when removed

I'd get a pin and dig out the bit left in your leg

Thats the tiniest tick Ive ever seen though. Generally they're the size of a very small pea

Yes it was too small to remove properly. I'm on holiday. Off to local gp.

Tiny one but yes

Just realised we're looking at dismembered bits of tick that the OP extracted from the leg!

Yes!! The gp said there was a tiny bit remaining that would do no harm. I asked him to remove it all anyway!!

Thats the tiniest tick Ive ever seen though. Generally they're the size of a very small pea.

It's definitely a tick. Probably in the earlier stages of life and before it has fed. Which is good news for the OP where Lyme disease is concerned.
I've only ever seen small-pea-sized ticks on the dog. All the ones I've seen on people have been that size.

@JPDuck, @Junkmail

You definitely just PULL STRAIGHT UP to remove them safely and NEVER TWIST.

Guidance has changed over the years.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/lyme-disease/

And NEVER EVER put vaseline/chemicals on them or burn them or use any other wacky method. You want to cause them as little distress as possible when you remove them to avoid them regurgitating their stomach contents into you which will give a much higher risk of Lyme disease.

As a vet who must have removed hundreds of ticks, I’m amazed the nhs has oversimplied its advice to say don’t twist! Twisting and using a remover not tweezers gets them out whole and without squeezing every time. You shouldn’t twist with tweezers, but then you shouldn’t use tweezers anyway, as that inevitably squeezes the tick and ups the chance of disease transmission (and breaking the tick). I’d urge anyone to buy the little green tick hook if they ever walk in long grass. They work so well.

postermoredogsthansense

I'd second not using standard tweezers as you'll inevitably squeeze the tick as you try to remove it. I have tick-removing tweezers, and a tick-removing card which is brilliant (tickcard.co.uk/detail/). Both of which are used to grip the tick as close to the skin as possible and simply pull firmly straight upwards.

TBF, I have googled the sort of thing you refer to and it does indeed say to twist. So I stand corrected. Although it does sound as though the twisting should only be done with a tool specifically designed to be used in that way. Otherwise the method is to pull straight up.

www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk/about-ticks/tick-removal/

You definitely just PULL STRAIGHT UP to remove them safely and NEVER TWIST.

Whether or not this is now the guidance this would make it so much harder to remove. IME you can tug and tug and those fuckers are not coming out until you put your little green tick remover on them and gently twist and suddenly they pop out.

Yes, definitely a tick.

I once mixed up the nipples on the school guinea pig with a tick, when we were looking after it during the summer holidays. Went and got a tool for removal and everything. Was clutching the guinea pig with tool in hand when my 10 year old daughter stopped me from amputating the poor things nipple! Luckily I hadn't started.

Where I live, we are told you should kill it with Ether/ nail varnish remover, before pulling it out. to stop the head staying inside...
They do not thrive on humans I believe, it would have dropped off, they only get big when they have been feeding (on blood)

Yes that's a tick. They can be the size of a poppy seed or smaller.