Thank you very much for your help. I have tried to navigate the questions, but I could not find the same situation. I am a bit nervous and seeking your medical advise. I have been to a cupping services here in a scandinavian country, which later I found that it is not officially registered and a t a home, but serve well-known athlete and the man is certified in massage industry/ sport. 

As he massaged me, he may have used a bit force, and used a metal equipment( technique called Graston). It caused some scratched on my back. I am not sure if my scratch bled. Then he applied the cups for  20 minutes. My questions here what is there was blood around the cups from previous persons and it came into contact with my scratches? Am I at risk? ( that in case they do not sterilize the cups or the Graston  equipments.  

In case the cups were used 30 minutes before me on another patient and there was blood on the cups.

I would be very thankful for your insight. 

I also do not recall any questions about cupping and HIV/STD risk. And as you might imagine, also am unaware of any studies on this and also find none on a quick search of the medical literature. Cupping is a very common practice in some cultures; therefore the absence of even a single case report of such transmission is strong evidence it doesn't happen. If it ever had been suspected, you can be sure it would have been reported.

And on biological principles, I cannot imagine any significant risk of HIV transmission from either cupping in general or from the specific procedures you describe. There is an assumption among many persons concerned about HIV -- probably especially from those particularly worried about it -- that general advice about "blood contact' being a risk means any and all blood contact, no matter how trivial, might carry a risk of infection. It isn't true. A small amount of blood on the skin, even skin with various nicks and scratches, has never been known to transmit HIV. For blood exposure to transmit the virus, the blood must be directly injected inside the body, as happens with surgical instrument injuries, contaminated needles, etc. Even large amounts of blood exposure, like in people providing emergency aid to auto wreck or gunshot victims, has rarely if ever been reported as resulting in HIV infection.

So I would not worry at all about this. I see no possibility you were infected, even if an HIV infected person had been cupped with the same devices 5 minutes before you were. You needn't be tested and should not give this another thought.

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

HHH, MD

1. Even if there was blood 10 minutes around the cups? and then he used them on me and massaged me using these cups and came into contact with my scratches? 

2. Does scratches that did not bleed( I just saw that they were scratches a day after- they became dry) form an entry to the blood stream? Or they are not deep enough?

3. I have tested recently using Alle Determin in Sweden at the clinic after one year of no  exposure or even sex. I guess that was conclusive.

Thanks again, and you can close my thread after answering these follow up questions. 

2.  Healing wounds have never been known to be a source of HIV infection. Here too, I cannot say the risk is truly zero, but no such cases have ever been reported or, I would guess, even suspected.

3. Yes, that result was conclusive.

That completes the two follow-up comments included with each question and so ends this thread. I hope the discussion has been helpful. You can move on without the slightest worry about any of this. I hope you are able to do so. Best wishes.