This weekend I got a tick on me during a visit to the Sam Houston National Forest. It wasn’t engorged and when my wife removed it, there was no blood. She insisted that the tweezers used to remove the tick (from an Adventure Medical Kits .3 kit) now need to be boiled for a certain length of time to sterilize them. What would this kill that soaking in alcohol, exposing to open flame, or just bringing the water to a boil will not? I understand that there are some organisms that won’t die at 100 degrees C, but I don’t know how many of them are pathogenic to humans or if they are the kind of thing you would get on tweezers from removing a tick or that there is a strong need to sterilize a pair of tweezers from a first aid kit. What’s the straight dope?
Wipe it thoroughly with rubbing alcohol and let it dry. That’s sufficient to treat 99.999% of human pathogens. Especially since hopefully this tweezers is not going to be used in any truly invasive procedures, such as those taking place inside the thorax, abdomen, pelvis, or cranium.
I’m not, but she’s grossed out by the ticks and is, in my opinion, being overly cautious about the whole thing. She has an BSN and insists whatever procedure it is that she has in mind. I will probably let her do it because she has been accusing me lately of thinking her unintelligent, but I thought I’d check to see whether or not I was full of shit (so I could tell her she’s right and make her feel better).
Good to know, since that’s what I’ve been doing with my tweezers. I do use the tips to dig out ingrown hairs, but nothing more invasive for that.
That’s what X-Acto blades are for.
My impression is that the OP’s wife thinks that the tweezers are now Unclean after using them for tick removal, and the OP wants to know how to get them Clean again. I, personally, have my own standards of Clean and Unclean. Usually I restore things to Clean status by running them through the dishwasher or washing machine. Obviously, not all objects can withstand this.
Be careful not to squeeze the body of a tick when removing it, as this may cause it to eject the contents of its stomach into you - and this can cause nasty infections. Splinter-removal tweezers with needle-like points are best - hold them level with the skin and grasp the tick across the nearest point to your skin, then pull steadily without crushing it - they will usually let go in preference to being pulled apart.
Keep an eye on the spot where the tick was - if it becomes inflamed, see a doctor immediately.
Mainly if you plan to close the wound up with sutures. An open one will usually drain quite nicely should an infection develop. Clean instruments usually suffice when sterile ones aren’t available.
Besides, most open wounds have already gotten quite filthy by the time one gets to the doctor. Unless said open wound was inflicted in an OR suite using sterile instruments. Meanwhile, the doc will disinfect the open wound with stuff that works a lot like the isopropyl alcohol used to clean the tweezers, then close it up.