Vibrators, anal insertion risks

[anotherdummy]

Hi, I am a mid 30s male and have been with professional providers in massage parlour settings.  I am wondering, I have had a vibrator inserted in my anus and fingers, not too often but the odd time.  The vibrator only once.  I am strictly hetero and never had MSM sex or used IV drugs.  I have however used steroids but I have bought and used only my own needles for this.  What are risks for exposure here with toys like this and fingers?  Can hiv live outside the body ffor long(ie on a vibrator?  Can HIV live in a steroid suspension fluid and be transmitted that way?

Thanks for your help.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

No STD or HIV is known to be regularly transmitted by fingering or by sex toys.  Sex toy insertion could be a risk if used in rapid succession (several minutes, while secretions still were wet) between different individuals.  In theory, ditto for fingers, for example in group sex situations.  Sex toys and hands ought to be washed between partners, to reduce the already small risk to zero.

HIV can live outside the body only for brief periods, even up to a few hours. However, generally not in amounts that can cause infection, except perhaps by intravenous injection.

Is it theoretically possible you could catch HIV that way.  Sure. It's also possible you'll get hit by a meterorite.  Worry about the things that matter, not the ones that don't.  As I have said repeatedly, safe sex means 1) selecting low risk partners and 2) using condoms for vaginal or anal sex outside committed relationships.  That's it.  All the rest is icing on the cake that doesn't make much difference in a person's risks.

Good luck--   HHH, MD

[monkeyflower]

I think I can answer your toy question, since I sell sex toys and educate folks on their care and use. The vibrator is fine as long as it's clean (and you'd know if it weren't). That's particularly true if it's made of silicone or something like glass or steel, which can be sterilized - although I personally think that's overkill. Fingers are perfectly okay, too. Either way, you can relax about those exposures. I think it's safe to say that no one ever got HIV through fingers or toys :-)

[anotherdummy]

Thanks for the reply.  If you could clarify what you mean by clean I would appreciate it.  Do you mean if is not 100% clean then there is risk or??  just not 100%sure toy was clean...I know...stupid right?

[Willl]

I have noticed a change in your advice in the past few months. It sounds like now you are accepting that if a fluid is dry it is generally not infectious. Not that previously you said it would remain so, but it was more of an unknown possibly explained by inoculum size?

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

As I have said many times, no forum user should go looking for trivial changes in my wording and assume that differences indicate modified opinions or advice.  When new data appear that change my position, I make it crystal clear (for example, recent information about a higher risk than I previously thought about oral HSV-2).  Apparently different responses generally reflect differences in the details of the question or the exposure risk, what professional advice the questioner might already have had, and my best guess about the questioner's mental status.  Nothing more.

My knowledge and advice about HIV infected fluids in the environment have not changed.

HHH, MD

[monkeyflower]

On a vaguely related note, while washing sex toys between partners is ideal, it's often easier to use a condom or glove. That way you can easily switch partners and/or orifices with just a quick condom change :-)

[anotherdummy]

I am sure the vibrator had not been used for at least 12 hours if not 16 or more....any chance of anything here?  I had nd have had hemorrhoidal problems and that is what makes me nervous.

thanks