[Question #11496] Exposure through eye

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14 months ago
Hi sir, yesterday I went to a massage parlour the therapist offered body to body massage and it doesn’t involved any oral vaginal and anal sex i am on my under wear but I touched her clitoris for about 10 sec not inserted I am used to rubbing my eyes and I am not sure wether I rubbed my eyes or not what if I immediately rubbed eyes does this pose a risk should I start pep I asked her about her status she told she tested negative 20 days before joining in the parlour
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
14 months ago
Welcome back to our forum. I'm happy to help.

I reviewed your two previous threads. Similar to this one, they described exposures that are unlikely to result in sufficient virus exposure to risk being infected with HIV. Both those other discussions emphasized how difficult it is to transmit HIV:  that hand-genital contact, kissing, and other intimate contact other than penetration rarely if ever transmit HIV. In theory, exposure of the eyes to HIV infected fluids could result in transmission of the virus, but this is very rare if it occurs at all. I am unaware of any eye exposures that resulted in HIV infection anywhere in the world during the 40+ years of the worldwide HIV/AIDS epidemic.

In at least one of your previous discussions, we also addressed the low chance that massage therapists have HIV -- and in this case she has shown you evidence that she is not infected. But even if your massage worker has HIV, it would not be possible to be sufficiently exposed to the virus by rubbing your eyes in this situation.

I do not advise PEP, and I doubt you could find a doctor or clinic willing to prescribe it in this situation (assuming you were truthful about the exposure). You do not need testing for HIV and can safely continue sex if you have a regular partner you might be concerned about.

For more information about why such exposures are such low risk, you might go back an re-read your two previous forum threads.

I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.

HHH, MD
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