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Vaginal fingering with fresh wet semen
Hello Doctor,
I posted the below question on the community forum, and received two short but reassuring responses from the respected Teak and Vance2335. I realised that I wanted an opinion from one of the medical doctors on here, but what I am hoping is that you tell me that I should just listen to them and not be spending my $22............
Exposure: Man ejaculates then uses the still wet semen as lubricant to finger my vagina. It was about 5 minutes, give or take, before he fingered me. He used all the semen on his fingers so it was a full load. There was no penis penetration at all.
Question: if the man is HIV+, does this pose a risk? If so, how much. I have read so much about whether HIV is still infectious once it has left the body, but I'm really not clear about whether 5 minutes is enough for it to lose its infectiousness, especially as the semen was still wet and I was deep fingered. I have read on here that fingering is not a risk but wanted to make sure on the specifics of this episode, as I can't see how this differs from unprotected receptive vaginal sex. Could someone please explain.
Thanks for all the great work that you do on here, and I look forward to hearing from you.
I posted the below question on the community forum, and received two short but reassuring responses from the respected Teak and Vance2335. I realised that I wanted an opinion from one of the medical doctors on here, but what I am hoping is that you tell me that I should just listen to them and not be spending my $22............
Exposure: Man ejaculates then uses the still wet semen as lubricant to finger my vagina. It was about 5 minutes, give or take, before he fingered me. He used all the semen on his fingers so it was a full load. There was no penis penetration at all.
Question: if the man is HIV+, does this pose a risk? If so, how much. I have read so much about whether HIV is still infectious once it has left the body, but I'm really not clear about whether 5 minutes is enough for it to lose its infectiousness, especially as the semen was still wet and I was deep fingered. I have read on here that fingering is not a risk but wanted to make sure on the specifics of this episode, as I can't see how this differs from unprotected receptive vaginal sex. Could someone please explain.
Thanks for all the great work that you do on here, and I look forward to hearing from you.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
1) These comments do not chance my opinions or advice, which was constructed with care to be very reassuring. The important thing is that nobody has ever been known to be infected by fingering. The biological reasons really don't matter.
2) If still wet, HIV would survive. But this probably doesn't matter.
3) Obviously the quantity of semen exposure by fingering is far lower than with ejacualtion in the vagina. What's so complicated about that?
Do your best to accept my reasoned, science based reassurance at face value with no second-guessing. There are no hidden meanings.
2) If still wet, HIV would survive. But this probably doesn't matter.
3) Obviously the quantity of semen exposure by fingering is far lower than with ejacualtion in the vagina. What's so complicated about that?
Do your best to accept my reasoned, science based reassurance at face value with no second-guessing. There are no hidden meanings.
Sorry Doctor, I should have said that I tested recently, before this exposure (if indeed it is an exposure) - negative. So, on the basis of this event alone, no testing required?
Thanks
Thanks
Doctor, many thanks for your very swift response.
I'm not sure whether I'm reading too much in to your response, but I am now a bit worried.
You say that you could envisage a theoretical risk.
1. What would that be?
2. As it had been 5 minutes since he ejaculated, wouldn't that be enough for the semen to have lost infectiousness? The info on this is so varied, so could it still infect that long after leaving the body?
3. Why would the amount of semen be so miniscule? Like I said, he used a lot of semen on his fingers.
Many thanks again.
I'm not sure whether I'm reading too much in to your response, but I am now a bit worried.
You say that you could envisage a theoretical risk.
1. What would that be?
2. As it had been 5 minutes since he ejaculated, wouldn't that be enough for the semen to have lost infectiousness? The info on this is so varied, so could it still infect that long after leaving the body?
3. Why would the amount of semen be so miniscule? Like I said, he used a lot of semen on his fingers.
Many thanks again.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Welcome to the forum.
Although the replies to this question on the community forum were brief, they were accurate. Nobody has ever been known to catch HIV by hand-genital contact, fingering, etc -- even if infected genital fluids are involved. Can I envision a theoretical risk from the events you describe? Sure. But since it has never been documented, the risk obviously is exceedingly low if not truly zero.
This differs from unproteced receptive vaginal sex because it takes lots of virus exposure for transmission to occur. Medical nonprofessionals tend to assume that exposure to "just one virus" is sufficient, but it is not. Even for unprotected vaginal sex, with semen deposited in the vagina, the average transmission risk to the female partner -- if the male has HIV -- is around once for every 1,000 exposures. With the miniscule amount of semen that could be introduced into the vagina by fingering, the risk is correspondingly less.
Finally, I will add that the chance your partner had HIV probably is very low anyway, assuming he isn't bisexual, an injection drug user, or otherwise at particularly high risk for HIV.
Since you are concerned, you may wish to be HIV tested -- not because there is any real risk, but strictly for reassurance. And all sexually active persons (outside mutually monogamous relationships) should be tested for HIV and other STDs from time to time, like once a year. If you haven't been tested recently, this might be a good time, when it's on your mind. But definitely not because of this particular event.
I hope this has helped. Best wishes-- HHH, MD
Although the replies to this question on the community forum were brief, they were accurate. Nobody has ever been known to catch HIV by hand-genital contact, fingering, etc -- even if infected genital fluids are involved. Can I envision a theoretical risk from the events you describe? Sure. But since it has never been documented, the risk obviously is exceedingly low if not truly zero.
This differs from unproteced receptive vaginal sex because it takes lots of virus exposure for transmission to occur. Medical nonprofessionals tend to assume that exposure to "just one virus" is sufficient, but it is not. Even for unprotected vaginal sex, with semen deposited in the vagina, the average transmission risk to the female partner -- if the male has HIV -- is around once for every 1,000 exposures. With the miniscule amount of semen that could be introduced into the vagina by fingering, the risk is correspondingly less.
Finally, I will add that the chance your partner had HIV probably is very low anyway, assuming he isn't bisexual, an injection drug user, or otherwise at particularly high risk for HIV.
Since you are concerned, you may wish to be HIV tested -- not because there is any real risk, but strictly for reassurance. And all sexually active persons (outside mutually monogamous relationships) should be tested for HIV and other STDs from time to time, like once a year. If you haven't been tested recently, this might be a good time, when it's on your mind. But definitely not because of this particular event.
I hope this has helped. Best wishes-- HHH, MD
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