[Question #1100] Risk of protected sex with condom
101 months ago
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101 months ago
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
101 months ago
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Welcome to the Forum. As long as they are put on before sex starts, worn throughout the encounter, and do not obviously break condoms remain the most effective means of preventing STIs when having sex with a potentially infected partner. Thus we would refer to the encounter you describe as safe sex and would urge you not to worry. Interestingly, contact with genital secretions on the outside of the genitals (i.e. the scrotum, pubic area, abdomen, etc.) does not typically lead to STI transmission even when partners are infected unless penetrative sexual contact occurs. This appears to be, at least in part, because the mucosal surface of the urethra (the tube inside the penis) or within the female vaginal are more vulnerable to STI acquisition than the thicker skin on the outside of the genitals which resist infection quite well. I would not worry about the encounter that you describe and see no reason for STI testing.
You will notice that I did not comment on your question about HPV. this is because there is still much to learn about HPV transmission and the fact that nearly all adults have HPV infections whether or not they know it. In nearly all adults, HPV infections are innocuous and go away without therapy over a period of months. In general however, most single exposures to HPV infected partners do not lead to infection, and the risk for infection from the sort of exposure you describe, being condom protected, is quite (very, very) low.
I hope these comments are helpful. this was a very low risk exposure which should not worry you. EWH
101 months ago
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
101 months ago
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