How to Remove a Leech - Updated

 For someone unfamiliar with leeches it is a disgusting experience to have one attached to you. For a child it can be horrifying. We got into them while hunting frogs in the calm water under bushes along the riverbank a while ago. Here is a clear version of the removal process from an article written last summer about the event.


Avoiding Leeches:
Leeches do not like bright light or fast moving water so it is unusual to have to deal with them at the river cottage. They prefer still or very slow moving water and the semi-darkness under docks or rocks where they attach themselves to stationary objects and wait for their prey.

First Things First:
When a child has a leech on them or three as in this weekend’s events it is pretty scary. The first thing to do is react calmly and start to work removing the leeches immediately. You should use one of your hands to hide the leech from the child’s sight. Have anyone who is contributing to the child’s unease run and get things for you.

Folk Remedies:The folk remedies for removing leeches are salt, alcohol, a burning cigarette or smoldering broom straw.

The Best Way:The best way to remove one is to slide your fingernail around the place where the sucker attaches and try to get the seal broken.
Grab the fat end to detach the rear sucker, grasp the leech and pull gently which will raise the skin around the attachment point.
Keep sliding your nail around where the mouth meets the skin until you can pry it off. This can take a few minutes, which can be anxious for a child so by all means, sprinkle some salt, wave around the burning embers and mutter instructions to your assistants to keep the child distracted and calm.

Tip:Remember to place your hands so that the child cannot really see what is going on - not just to calm them but because leeches secrete an anticoagulant, the wounds though tiny will bleed profusely.
I think most of the mumbo-jumbo about salt and cigarettes is to distract the squeamish while you rid them of the nasty critters.

Adults:
In my experience on oneself, just grab the leech and pull it off. They are not like a wood tick and do not leave any bits behind. Clean the wound with an anti-septic though and cover it up with a band-aid, as much to stop the bleeding as to keep it clean. I have never heard of any complications from a leech attack here in the temperate north but at the first sign of streaking, fever or other symptoms of infection consult a doctor immediately.