What does your skin look like after you remove a tick that has been attached? The tick is a male nymph American Dog Tick.  I scratched the back of my head and thought it was a scab on my head and pulled it off.  The tick is not alive and it is not engorged.  I know it has been dead (maybe by washing my hair or the hair dryer) because the tick is flat and dried up.  However, I know it was attached because I heard it popped when I pulled it off.  The head is still attached to the tick but when my grandmother inspected it, there is a distinctive bite mark on the back of my head and a kind of splotchy rash that trails to the nape of my neck - straight down. The rash is square in shape and does not extend above or to the side of the original bite - just straight down about 4 inches.  Is this normal?  No fever, no bulls eye rash, no aching but I have no idea how long it was attached or how long it had been dead.  And Y E S - I'm still GROSSED OUT and all icked out about it. I know it's not Lyme disease or Rocky Mountain Fever.  Too soon for that.... :) I hope... :)

Summarized question: Can removing a tick cause a rash?