Hi doctors - I had a question about HIV Fingerprick tests.  I read online that if you massage a finger to hard or squeeze to hard to get the blood out it may dilute the sample and cause a false negative result.  I have had two fingerprick tests that were negative well after the sero-conversion window - a year or so, I can't remember if the person who performed the test did this or not - but if they did would it have impacted my results?  

I also read online that some articles say that one should remove the first drop of blood to get the most accurate test, and others say not to remove the first drop of blood - I also can't remember what was done - so would this impact my results or are both of the issues irrelevant and neither would impact my negative results that were outside of the testing window.  Thanks in advance doctors.

Welcome to the Forum, thanks for your questions. I'll be glad to comment:---

(1) so worrying about whether someone wiped away the first drop of blood or used the first drop of blood is not important and won't impact the results (2) worrying about if a finger is squeezed to hard or not  is not significant either - these are theoretical ways to create a false negative but in the real world they have no real impact is that correct? (3) I also read that there was a study (Rice University) about fingerprick tests that when one drop of blood is collected  that the next drop can give you  a different results for measuring  things like hemoglobin or white blood cells or platelet counts, etc....I'm assuming this does not apply to HIV fingerprick tests - that one drop is sufficient to get an accurate measurement is this accurate?  Thanks alot Dr. Hook - just read some of this stuff and it scared me that my tests might not be accurate - (4) is there any reason for me to be tested again (I have no risk factors) or are these two tests definitive along with an oral swab test that was also negative.

(1) so worrying about whether someone wiped away the first drop of blood or used the first drop of blood is not important and won't impact the results .---

Thanks alot Dr. Hook - its very hard sometimes as a female to ask these kinds of questions to a doctor at least for me, as I get embarrassed, so what you and Dr. Handsfield do here is really incredible to create a space where people can ask questions they may be afraid to ask their regular doctor.  The last thing I wanted to ask was just that with a fingerprick HIV test all you need is one drop of blood to get an accurate result correct?  I think they took multiple drops, but if they did take the first one it would still be just as accurate as if they took 3 or 4?  Thank you so much Dr. Hook

sorry one last question because I don't think I explained something properly (I know you have a three question rule so I will make this quick).  The Rice study in 2015 was about hemoglobin, platelet counts, white blood cells - things that I assume need a larger sample size than an HIV fingerprick test where only 1-2 drops are needed - they never tested HIV - so I am assuming this is nothing for me to be concerned about - is this accurate - thanks Dr. Hook I appreciate it

Thanks for your thanks.  I appreciate it.  ---