Should I be concerned?

[Hannah331]

Hello Doctor,

Ill be brief, I recieved oral from a man i dont know very well at all and after realized he had a little cut on his bottom lip area like a nick from shaving or what not, not huge but now concerned, is that an episode in which I need testing?

Thanks for your time.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

No, when the cur occurred makes no difference.  EWH

[Hannah331]

I'm sorry to be a pest, I believe you missed my question on whether it mattered if the cut was fresh

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Glad to help.  Take care. EWH

[Hannah331]

even if the cut was new?

Thank you for the reassurance.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to our Forum. The exposure you describe, receipt of oral sex from a heterosexual man, was low risk for a number of reasons.  First, HIV is rare among heterosexual men so if he does not have male sex partners of use IV drugs, the likelihood he has HIV is less than in 1,000 and probably closer to 1 in 10,000.  Second, HIV is almost never transmitted by oral sex.  Even the most conservative estimates are that the risk of HIV, IF your partner is infected is less than 1 in 10,000 and again, is probably lower. thus, on a statistical basis, your risk for HIV form a single oral exposure is less than 1 in a million and probably far lower than that.  That he had a cut on his lip does not change this.

To be honest, your risk is so low that there is really little benefit to even testing for HIV.

I hope this comment is helpful, and reassuring. EWH