TikToks tick-removal tricks to skip and how to avoid mouthparts left behind in the skin

Tick these TikTok tricks off your list.With the rise in disease-harboring ticks across the country also comes an uptick in viral hacks to remove the nasty suckers.But don’t believe everything you see online — some methods may leave you with more than an itch to escape the city this summer.Tick season in the US spans April to October — but back at the start, bites were already sending people to the ER at the highest rate in nearly a decade.It’s not just getting snacked on by a bug you have to fear: There’s Lyme disease, alpha-gal — which leaves those infected forced into veganhood due to new meat allergies — and the lesser-known Powassan, which recently left a New Hampshire man nonverbal.These parasitic arachnids certainly pack a punch, so routine tick checks and removal as soon as possible are essential.But beware old wives’ tales (and new viral hacks) you find circulating on social media, which are ineffective at best — and dangerous at worst.“Currently, there are an overwhelming number of online sources offering tick removal tips on TikTok, and many of those tips have been found to have no medical basis,” Dr.Jason Schroder, board-certified anesthesiologist, told The Post.Social media’s tick-removal hacks:The problem isn’t just that they may not work — they may also increase your likelihood of an infection.“Using petroleum jelly, heat, nail polish or other substances to try to detach the tick from the skin may agitate the tick and force infected fluid from the tick into the skin,” Dr.

Tammy Lundstrom, senior vice president and chief medical officer at Trinity Health told The Post.Forcing the fluid or saliva of the tick into the body is how disease-causing organisms — like Borrelia burgdorferi, which causes Lyme disease — can enter the bloodstream, according to Schroder.“The longer the saliva-to-skin connection exists, the higher the risk of infection,” he said.“From years of treating patients, controlled removal is what...