I appreciate your work and would like to discuss a concerning issue. I have recently developed a troubling habit of visiting massage parlours that offer various services, including handjobs and body-to-body massages.

Between July 23rd and August 20th, I visited one such parlour five times. I initially believed there was minimal risk involved, but around September 2nd, I began experiencing severe gastritis that has not subsided and a rash on my chest. This has been my only exposure to potentially risky situations.

I am particularly worried because I have severe acne on my back. I keep overthinking the possibility that one of the therapists might have had HIV and, in some way, bled on my back without my noticing. What are my chances of contracting HIV in such a scenario, given that there was no penetration involved and the services I received were limited to body-to-body massages and handjobs?

I feel extremely embarrassed about this situation and wish to move past it.

Thank you for your guidance. I am planning to take 4th gen test on 17th September, which will mark 4 weeks from the last exposure. 

Initial reply, having read only the first sentence:  If your massage exposures indeed included only body-to-body massage and hand-genital contact, almost certainly you have been at no risk for any STI, including HIV.

Now I have read the rest. Guess what? What you "initially believed" is exactly right; and no STI is a likely cause of either gastritis or a skin rash localized to one part of the body. Getting to your closing statement, I see you are mostly concerned about HIV. However, when new HIV infection causes symptoms -- called acute retroviral syndrome or ARS -- those symptoms do not generally include gastritis, a localized rash, or acne. And pimples do not increase the risk of HIV from massage or hand-genital contact.

Since you are worried, it makes sense for you to have an HIV blood test, as your are planning. But strictly for reassurance from the negative result, not because of actual risk. And you needn't wait until September 17. A negative AgAb (4th generation) blood test now would be around 80% reliable and therefore should be reassuring. However, for truly 100% reliable result, you will need to test 6 weeks or more after the last exposure.

In the meantime, please do not be worried. Do your best to separate your emotional reactions -- i.e. your embarrassment and apparent shame over a sexual decision you regret -- with infection risk from that decision. They aren't the same. Finally, perhaps it will help to know that in the 20 years of this and our preceding forum, with thousands of questions from people worried about HIV, nobody yet has turned out to be infected. You will not be the first! If and when it finally happens, surely it will be from a genuinely risky exposure, not a risk free event like yours. So stay mellow as you await your test results. I am 100% confident you do not have HIV.

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

HHH, MD