A pair of tweezers (or forceps)

A bottle of strong antiseptic--the kind you'd use on cuts and scrapes

Optional:

A bottle of rubbing alcohol or denatured alcohol (any beverage with a high alcohol content could also do in a pinch!)

A bottle of calamine lotion

About 5-20 minutes, depending on how long it's been attached

2torial #0512: Learn2 Remove a Tick Hmmm, a fellow traveler! Ahh, the discovery of the dark bump that turns out to be an unwittingly-collected field sample of the genus Ixodes, otherwise known as the tick. These insects are usually found in woodlands and brush, waiting to catch a ride to some other neck of the woods. But really, they're not painful, nor even dangerous in most cases--you just have to be careful to remove them slowly. (Note the dangerous exception--in some parts of the world, certain ticks can carry Lyme disease (which can cause severe neurological damage) during the summer months. Read on for strategies to stay healthy in Lyme disease land...) To see a tick is to want to remove it, but unfortunately there's a lot of conflicting (and downright mistaken) lore about the right way to go about the eviction process. In this 2torial, you'll get the time-tested method generally approved of by health professionals. It's called the "Patient Pull" approach, and it works on people and animals. Just be gentle (and try to avoid the gross-out reaction). First of all, avoid a panicky reaction. When you discover a tick, fight the natural reaction to yank it immediately or rub it or swat it. Prompt removal is important, but your primary goal is to remove the tick in one piece, while it's still alive. And that'll require a little preparation and patience. If you feel yourself getting panicky, take ten slow, deep breaths (actually count them)--you'll be in a better mindset for the task ahead. Why the emphasis on live removal? Because if you pull too hard or too quickly, you'll only get the body of the tick, leaving its tiny head imbedded in the flesh (where it will almost certainly cause an infection). What's worse, an injured or dying tick tends to regurgitate your blood right back into your bloodstream--with its own nasty microbes, bacteria and viruses added to the mix. Step 1