Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum. ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.
HIV Prevention (Expert Forum)
shared razor hazards
Answered by
University of Washington
Seattle - WA
This forum is limited to prevention of HIV and to safe sex in general. If you believe you might have been exposed to HIV and want help to judge your risk, would like advice about HIV testing, or have questions about the effectiveness of condoms or the risks associated with specific sexual practices, this is the site for you.
IMPORTANT
No questions will be accepted on the treatment of HIV/AIDS or its complications, viral load, and similar topics. If you have questions about a specific STD other than HIV/AIDS, please visit the STD Forum. Questions that do not pertain to the above topics will be removed from the forum.
If you have not done so, please review other threads in our archives for questions similar to yours and Dr. Handsfield's replies. Questions that duplicate other frequent ones, for which abundant replies exist, and that have little educational value for other forum users, will be DELETED WITHOUT RESPONSE. YOUR PAYMENT WILL NOT BE REFUNDED. The most common examples of such questions are those about low risk exposures to HIV, such as oral sex, condom- protected intercourse hand-to-genital exposure, and nonsexual contact with possibly infected blood or body fluids as well as symptoms of early HIV infection.
No questions will be accepted on the treatment of HIV/AIDS or its complications, viral load, and similar topics. If you have questions about a specific STD other than HIV/AIDS, please visit the STD Forum. Questions that do not pertain to the above topics will be removed from the forum.
If you have not done so, please review other threads in our archives for questions similar to yours and Dr. Handsfield's replies. Questions that duplicate other frequent ones, for which abundant replies exist, and that have little educational value for other forum users, will be DELETED WITHOUT RESPONSE. YOUR PAYMENT WILL NOT BE REFUNDED. The most common examples of such questions are those about low risk exposures to HIV, such as oral sex, condom- protected intercourse hand-to-genital exposure, and nonsexual contact with possibly infected blood or body fluids as well as symptoms of early HIV infection.
shared razor hazards
by regrets1, Jul 21, 2006 12:00AM
Hi Doctor,
I am a 22-year old woman and have recently had a one-time protected vaginal sex encounter with a male of unknown status and whom I didn't know at all. I have two related concerns. I used my razor to shave off some pubic hair areas while taking a shower immediately _before_ the sex episode. My first question is what is the risk of HIV transmission (in case my partner was positive which I don't know) through the contact of the penis with this recently shaved area, which may have had small cuts and sores on it. What if the penis skin was also irritated and moreover what if some preejaculate was on the penis at the time? This is before the condom was put on and penetration followed. Secondly, I worry that my partner could also have used my razor while taking a shower in my bathroom before me. At the time I thought it was only decent to give him privacy before the sexual encounter, but I am freaking out now playing out various scenarios in my mind, since I haven't been able to get in touch with him since and I didn't know the guy before. He did mention that he used my toothpaste, so I stopped using that toothbrush. What are the risks I am running concerning this shaving razor hazard? Is there any risk concerning deodorant sharing, in case he used my deodorant?
I am really worried about it as sharing razors is definitely mentioned everywhere as an HIV transmission risk. In this case the sharing would not have been chosen/planned, but that does not matter practically.
This was less than a week ago so I cannot get tested for several weeks to come.
Finally, on a completely different topic, the sex was protected, condom didn't break, but afterwards I noticed that the condom had slipped a third of the way down. Does this potentially annul the protection?
Please help me assess the risk, I've been very anxious and worried. I didn't see overlap with previously asked questions on this forum, hence my inquiry.
I am a 22-year old woman and have recently had a one-time protected vaginal sex encounter with a male of unknown status and whom I didn't know at all. I have two related concerns. I used my razor to shave off some pubic hair areas while taking a shower immediately _before_ the sex episode. My first question is what is the risk of HIV transmission (in case my partner was positive which I don't know) through the contact of the penis with this recently shaved area, which may have had small cuts and sores on it. What if the penis skin was also irritated and moreover what if some preejaculate was on the penis at the time? This is before the condom was put on and penetration followed. Secondly, I worry that my partner could also have used my razor while taking a shower in my bathroom before me. At the time I thought it was only decent to give him privacy before the sexual encounter, but I am freaking out now playing out various scenarios in my mind, since I haven't been able to get in touch with him since and I didn't know the guy before. He did mention that he used my toothpaste, so I stopped using that toothbrush. What are the risks I am running concerning this shaving razor hazard? Is there any risk concerning deodorant sharing, in case he used my deodorant?
I am really worried about it as sharing razors is definitely mentioned everywhere as an HIV transmission risk. In this case the sharing would not have been chosen/planned, but that does not matter practically.
This was less than a week ago so I cannot get tested for several weeks to come.
Finally, on a completely different topic, the sex was protected, condom didn't break, but afterwards I noticed that the condom had slipped a third of the way down. Does this potentially annul the protection?
Please help me assess the risk, I've been very anxious and worried. I didn't see overlap with previously asked questions on this forum, hence my inquiry.
Doctor's Answer
by H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D., Jul 21, 2006 12:00AM
, Jul 21, 2006 12:00AM
You are in a better position than I am to judge whether your partner might be at risk for HIV. But if you are in the US or another industrialized country, if he is unlikely to have had sex with men or to be an injection drug user, and if he is not an immigrant from a high-risk geographic area (e.g., parts of Africa), then the chance he has HIV is almost zero.
I'm not sure anybody has actually documented HIV transmission by shared razors; if so, it is uncommon. Sharing razors is listed as a risk on common-sense grounds, not (to my knowledge) on the basis of data or documented infections. And sexual exposure of a shaved area to genital secretions also has never been known to result in HIV transmission, to my knowledge; and the risk is obviously very low. HIV is hard to transmit; even if someone has sex with an infected partner, it takes LOTS of virus and/or secretions. Contrary to non-professional assumptoms, it takes exposure to a lot more than "just one virus" to result in transmission. With unprotected vaginal sex with a definitely infected partner, the chance a woman will become infected averages only 1 in 1000.
Because of your concern, you should ask your partner directly about his risks. If he says he has none, and does so with apparent openness and honesty, you don't have any worries. In the future, just select your partners with care (no bar pick-ups, ask about drug use, etc) and use condoms with new partners. For practical purposes, those measures will protect you 100% against HIV for your entire life.
Good luck--- HHH, MD
I'm not sure anybody has actually documented HIV transmission by shared razors; if so, it is uncommon. Sharing razors is listed as a risk on common-sense grounds, not (to my knowledge) on the basis of data or documented infections. And sexual exposure of a shaved area to genital secretions also has never been known to result in HIV transmission, to my knowledge; and the risk is obviously very low. HIV is hard to transmit; even if someone has sex with an infected partner, it takes LOTS of virus and/or secretions. Contrary to non-professional assumptoms, it takes exposure to a lot more than "just one virus" to result in transmission. With unprotected vaginal sex with a definitely infected partner, the chance a woman will become infected averages only 1 in 1000.
Because of your concern, you should ask your partner directly about his risks. If he says he has none, and does so with apparent openness and honesty, you don't have any worries. In the future, just select your partners with care (no bar pick-ups, ask about drug use, etc) and use condoms with new partners. For practical purposes, those measures will protect you 100% against HIV for your entire life.
Good luck--- HHH, MD
Thanks a lot for your answer. I feel good knowing that you consider the risk of HIV transmission through exposure of shaved skin area to genital fluids or to the damaged skin area of someone else pretty low. Lower for example than the 1 to 1000 unprotected vaginal sex risk for women?
Do you think the partial slipping of the condom amounts to lack of protection?
The episode took place in Germany, and the guy was not an immigrant, though clearly of poor background. At the time he seemed rather like a regular young guy but I'm pretty naive. He also seemed more likely just heterosexual, but I'm far from being an expert. About the drugs possibility I didn't even think. The stupid thing is, I would do what you suggest and what seems very reasonable, i.e. ask him directly about his risks, except that he disappeared entirely, I cannot get in touch with him via phone or email. Which is what has raised my anxiety level quite a bit.
Do you think I should put the episode out of my mind, or should I get tested in a few weeks? Is it something that deserves worrying? I gather from some of your answers that after 5 weeks a test (but which one?) could be meaningful, though not certain, and that 8 weeks is essentially certain.
Thanks a lot for writing. A meaningless one-time affair like this will have no place in my life from now on, I'm sure.