[Question #13320] 2025 Hand to Genital

 
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12 days ago
Hi doctors.  I have been engaging in happy endings for some time now. Maybe 20x or more. I go to a massage spa, the masseuse will give me an hour of swedish massage with oil first - rubbing it over my legs, back, arms and end the session with a Handjob.  As far as I know they do not touch themselves, but They massage other people and give them handjobs too and lets assume they have HPV too. After each massage they would atleast wipe their hands to get discharge or oil off, or just a quick wash but i dont expect it to be thorough scrubbing the sort that is expected to remove all virus. They also use the same oil bottles. No other intimate contacts. The scenario is this: the previous client transfers HPV to the hands of the masseuse, she cleans up a bit, massages me then gives me a handjob.I hope I can get your up to date 2025 version assessment. Query like this might happen over your practice over the 40-50 years and I am not sure how it changes since Science is evolving quickly and always.
Main Questions:
1. What is my risk here? 
2. Am I safe to have unprotected sex with a partner after this? I am worry to infect her after my mistakes.
3. Im sure you encounter this case often in your practice, and up till today- what happened to those clients? Have they turned out infected too or no.
4. I been studying the McGill 2019 Hitch Study , do you agree too with them?
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
11 days ago
Welcome to our Forum. Thanks for your questions.  While perhaps fra theoretical perspective it MIGHT be possible for HPV to be transmitted from one person to another through direct transfer of the virus on a person’s hands there are no proven cases of this sort of transmission and neither of us has seen or heard of such a case in our combined more than 90 years of sexual health focused practice and research.  The evidence of transmission in contaminated lubricant is even less if that’s possible.  Any person who has had sex with others is highly likely to already be infected unless they and their prior partners have been vaccinated.  Anyone who is concerned about HOV should get vaccinated.

1. See above.
2.  There is no reason to avoid sex with a current or new partner related to the encounters you describe.
3.  See above.  Concerns about acquisition from hand to genital transmission are overblown 
4.  I am not aware of the study you mention.  If you provide the reference I may have a comment.

By and large concerns about HPV tend to be far greater than the problem.  For further information I would encourage you to review some of the hundreds of other threads on the forum regarding HPV, its transmission and disclosure.  We make them available educational purposes.  

EWH
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