This summer Ticks are hitting Massachusetts hard, so AFC Urgent Care Dedham is now offering tick removal services! We are here to give you some pointers on how to avoid ticks as well as explain our service for tick removal! If you find yourself, a friend, or family member bit by a tick please bring them over to AFC Urgent Care Dedham as soon as possible. Ticks are known to carry many diseases such as:
- Lyme Disease
- Anaplasmosis
- Babesiosis
- Ehrlichiosis
- Rocky Mountain Fever
- Tularemia
Tick removal process
If you find a tick on yourself or your child please bring them into AFC Urgent Care Dedham for proper removal. The tick removal procedure is quick with minimal pain:
- First, our medical care provider will apply alcohol to the infected area if on the skin/body
- Our medical Care provider will use a sterile tool to grab the tick by the roots as close as to the skin as possible
- After our medical care provider removes all parts of the tick, they will put alcohol over the infected area once more & give a band-aid
- It is important you let the wound heal
What not to do
Our medical providers do not recommend that you try to do this procedure on your own. If you do not remove all of the tick; you are leaving the wound vulnerable to being infected with whatever disease that tick was carrying. If you find a tick in your house DO NOT do the following:
- Throw tick away
- Dispose of tick anywhere in the house
- Leave roots in the wound
- Crush the tick
What to do
If you find a tick in your house you should follow the following steps to ensure it stays out of your house:
- Put a live tick in a cup of alcohol
- flush down toilet
- Put the tick in a ziplock bag then dispose of it in the garbage outside
If you have any more questions about our Tick removal procedure please feel free to contact us at 781-461-0200