[Question #11705] Laser hair removal
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12 months ago
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I got laser hair removal. The doctor was using a gloved hand and to manipulate my genitals and in the other hand she held the wand. I’m worried that with a prior patient, she could have touched the wand after touching their genitalia. If ~10 minutes before, she had touched another patient’s genitalia, touched the wand and then touched my genitalia after touching that wand, is there a chance I could get herpes or any other STI via fomite transmission?
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
12 months ago
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First, gloves would always be changed between patients. That's just what we do. Always. I suspect that the laser wand was also sterilized between patients. but if this is a concern for you, you should call and ask the location where you had the laser hair removal. Also, we don't believe that hands are a method of transmitting HSV - not a viable situation for virus to remain viable.
Terri
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12 months ago
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I know you have said hands are not a means of transmission but then how does auto-inoculation occur if not through hands or another fomite?
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
12 months ago
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oh good question. Autoinoculation happens almost exclusively around the time of a primary infection when the immune system has not yet developed skill at handling the virus, and it is actually quite rare. A hand in the same person moving from genitals to mouth or vice versa is really different than the situation that you describe above. In 40 years of practice, I have never seen transmission of HSV via hands only.
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Terri
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12 months ago
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So for fomite transmission, the only real concerns are chapstick, towels and sex toys? Not utensils, food or drinks?
Can HSV-1 or HSV-2 be spread through sweat droplets (I was on the train and a man next to me was dripping sweat and I’m concerned it could have gotten into my eye or mouth)?
Thank you