SO STRESS AND SCARED NOW

hello doctor please help me. about 3 years ago i had unprotected sex with a girl who hiv status i did not know and still dont know, me and her are still friends havent seen her but we talk online, everything seems fine with her, but not with me doctor about a little over a year ago i began to get irritated skin on my face in my mustache area which became red. i put some cream on it which made it better, the only thing as time went on i began have dry flaky skin on my face and i wont lie all ive been doing for the last year and couple month's is googling my condition and stressing over this. now when my beard grows my face usually gets irritated sometimes and a bit dry or flaky i guess. i have gotten colds sore throats but mostly during winter time. i am so scared i have this disease i act like i have it but dont know and am so scared to find out my anxiety is killing me. i finally went to see a dermatoligist yesterday who look at me and said i have seb derm, which now scares me even more becuase everytime i google my condition seb derm pops up then HIV is right there. the dermatologist said its common and that it doesnt look like it has anything to do with any diseases like parkinson's but she failed to mention HIV please help me doctor please.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to the Forum.  I hope my comments will help you to work through the concerns that are clearly in evidence from your post.  Several comments.

First, please stop searching the internet to see if the symptoms you are experiencing have been associated with HIV.  Just about everything has and while the internet is a great place for getting information, there is also a ton of misinformation out there that is misleading.  You can drive yourself crazy searching the internet as you've been doing.

Secondly, your chances of getting HIV from a single encounter with a girl met in the United States are tiny.  Particularly if you met this girl in Montana where HIV rates are amongst the lowest in the nation.  Far fewer than 1% of U.S. women have HIV.  In addition, the risk of getting infected, IF your partner is infected is only one infection per 1000 sex acts.  Putting these two numbers together, on a statistical basis, your risk of getting HIV from the single encounter you are worrying about is less than 1 in 100,000.  Put another way, you are more likely to get hit by lightening than to get HIV from a single encounter.

Finally, seborrheic dermatitis is a very common problem in persons who do not have HIV and is only somewhat more common in person with HIV.  Only a tiny fraction of persons with seborrheic dermatitis have HIV.

So, what should you do.  That's easy-- go and get tested at your local Health Department.  I am confident the result will be negative, proving that you do not have HIV.

I hope this comment helps.  Take care.  EWH

[montana27]

thanks so much doctor by you telling me that i will probably do something i should have done a long time ago. its just i never had this issue i did have a bit flaky skin in my eyebrows and side of my nose when i was about 15. but this not its alot different which scares me so much thanks.

[montana27]

doctor also can me stressing myself and letting my anxiety get to me so much cause these issues cause i feel since the first day about a year ago when i saw my condition and hiv in the same paragraph everything became worst.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Stress can certainly add to it.  You really have very little, if anything to worry about.  EWH