Hep c/hiv worrying situation

[Barberwoes123]

Hello Dr.
I'm a 30 year old male living in Canada who has actually struggled with OCD worries related to stds and hep c for the past decade.
Yesterday, I went to an upscale barber in Montreal who I know relatively well. He is an immigrant from morocco who has lived in Canada for over 35 years and is in a stable marriage. He is a totally normal and respectable man. He knows that I worry about contamination of tools from other patients and always wipes them down with a small alcohol swab. During the hair cut he switched to the clippers to shave trim the hair on the back of my neck. Right before that he said he just cut himself with the scissors and immediately put an alcohol swab on his finger (didn't see the cut or the blood as it was behind my head and hard to see in the mirror) and he then wiped the blade of the clippers with the same alcohol swab which probably got it sufficiently wet. I'm not sure if his cut was dripping blood or not. He then trimmed the back of my neck and after the haircut I noticed that there was a tiny (~ 0.5 mm) pinhead lesion on my neck which may have been an irritated follicle or small cut. I have been in panic mode for the last 12 hours about the possibility that some of his blood may have been on the clippers (although mixed with alcohol for sure) and that it gained access to my system from this minuscule possible cut. I know he's not an if drug user, but I know that people from hose countries may have been infected as children from dirty needles. I really don't want to ruin my weekend worrying but I'm obsessing over this

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Glad to hear it.  Good decisions.  Take care. EWH

[Barberwoes123]

Thanks. I actually called the barber and he told me that he didn't actually cut himself to the point where he was bleeding. I'm dropping this and proud of myself to let this go. OCD is a terrible thing...

[Edward W Hook, MD]

I see no medical reason for you to test.  I also congratulate you on your decision not to give into your OCD.  EWH

[Barberwoes123]

I Will only test In you feel it is medically warranted. I'm not going to test to reassure myself because that would be giving into my OCD. I had no blood on my neck afterwards so certainly couldn't have been huge amounts of blood. If you tell me that it's not something worth worrying about and that I can move on without concern I will just tell myself to drop this. Otherwise the next 3 months will be unbearable. So I ask you Dr.: can I safely move on from this without any concern?

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to the Forum.  I am traveling so there will be a five hour, at least lapse if you need further clarification.  Despite the possible blood exposure, this is a low risk event.  Your exposure was a surface exposure and hepatitis, like HIV, must be injected deep into tissue to cause infection.  Further, the application of alcohol would reduce risk for infection as well.  Finally and most importantly, the likelihood that this barber had hepatitis of any sort is vanishingly low.

If I were you, I would not worry and would not seek testing.  Given your OCD, I suspect some "what if" questions may arise but they are most unlikely to change my advice.  If you remain anxious, you'll need to test, preferably 10-12 weeks after the exposure. EWH

[Barberwoes123]

I also want to avoid unnecessary testing if its not warranted. I just want to move on if it's not a real risk. So scared

[Barberwoes123]

I just want to clarify.he said he cut himself DURING my haircut and cleaned his cut and then the clippers and started to shave my neck within 40 seconds. He didn't spend a lot of time cleaning the cut. I regret not asking him to see his cut and encouraging him to put a bandaid on. So mad at myself