Suggest Treatment For Tick Bites

Posted on Sun, 8 Nov 2015

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 8 Nov 2015 Answered on

Tue, 24 Nov 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : If you had a tick bite or a tick that had started borrowing on you bit didn't gorge would you reccomend getting antibiotics or wait to see if I get any symptoms. It was a deer tick I live in upstate New York. The tick was on me for about a week I thought it was a new mole at first.

Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (25 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
you should take antibiotics

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

acquiring diseases from tick bites is not very common. Most tick bites prove to be uneventful. Deer bites carry a relatively high risk for Lyme disease, so if the tick has attached to a patient more than 36 hours ago, antibiotic treatment is recommended. The recommended regimen is doxycycline 200mg once only, unless contraindicated.

Kind Regards!

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar