Our DD got a tick in her neck at about 2. We noticed in the bath that night before bed but didn’t know what it was (it was tiny) by the morning it was bigger.
Took her to GP who declared it was just a skin tag. I questioned why a skin tag would just appear and grow larger overnight.
She decided to pull it off with tweezers. Leaving the head behind…..
later we got a call, she had spoken to a colleague and as she had ripped it off leaving the head in she wanted us to give a two week course of high dose doxycycline.
I was a very very anxious mum and freaking out so (don’t laugh) I took her to our vet.
he was very tut at GPs actions and used some super high magnification head set to visualise the ticks head. He said it was too deeply embedded to grab the ‘tails’ of the dismembered head. He reassured me the head would work it’s way out over time with usual skin renewal. It’s not leaving the head in that’s the biggest risk for Lyme, it’s stressing the tick. He said never another, burn, squeeze or stress the tick causing it to regurgitate. He gave us some tick removers and explained how to use them should it happen again.
Morak of this story, GPs don’t always know what they are doing, never take removal advice on ticks of some randomers on the internet. Mad as it seems, if in doubt about ticks, ask a vet! They have lots of experience in dealing with them, even if they can’t help you remove it (due to insurance etc) they will have the tool to sell you and will show you how it works.