Tick bite and bruise

Hi, I went for a hike on Sunday and found a tick biting me a couple hours later. It did not appear swollen (I don't think it had started feeding) when I pulled it out. I used some regular tweezers and the entire tick (head and teeth) came out with one gentle pull. A bruise formed shortly thereafter and has not gone away, the bruise hasn't grown either. I was wondering if bruising was normal even when there is no Lyme disease present. Thank you.

I have read many times that those with darker skin who get infected with Lyme and have the Bull's eye rash, it can often look like a bruise.

I would like to suggest that you go ahead and read through our "New to Lyme? Start here!" thread, so that you are familiar with the symptoms of the different tick-borne infections. That way if you start to experience these, you can get in to see a specialist right away and avoid some of the run around most of us have had to go through.

Please do continue to monitor yourself and if you have any of the symptoms of tick-borne infections, don't hesitate to come on back and hopefully we can help you locate a LLMD (Lyme Literate Medical Doctor) right away.

I hope that this is not an infection, but just some minor skin irritation for you!!