POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: soveryworried997 on March 11, 2013, 08:17:53 pm
-
Hi - Thank you in advance for your help! I really appreciate it as I am worried sick. Recently I was at the plastic surgeon's office to get a small mole removed from my back. After the surgeon finished the surgery, he left and a couple minutes later his assistant came back to clean up my back and put the bandage over my stitches. However, while the Dr was working on me, the assistant was in the other room setting up the other patient (i.e. setting up the tools, applying iodine, etc). I noticed that the assistant had stuff on his gloves when he came back (it looked like iodine) and he did not change them from the other patient. I even asked him "that's not blood, right?" and he was like "no, no of course not". However, I am still worried - what if it was blood? What if some blood from the anesthesia shot from the other patient got on his gloves when he was applying the iodine? Or what if the doctor quickly asked him to grab a couple of tools that had blood on them after he was finished using them on the surgery of the other patient. Would the virus be able to survive on his gloves and then be transmitted to me through my open wound? There was probably only 15 seconds between the time the assistant would have touched the other person's blood and when he touched my open wound that had just been stitched up. Please help me.
-
Hi Worried . Hiv is a fragile virus and once it leaves the confines of the human body small changes in temperature and PH damage it and render it unable to infect almost instantly .
You are worrying needlessly about being infected with HIV in this manner . Its just too much to assume , first , HIV isn't acquired that way and even if it was the person in the other room would just happen to be POZ , then you would have a nurse who was ling to you about being careless ... all incorrect and way to much to assume .
Move on and stop worrying about an impossible series of events .
-
Thank you, Jeff G.
Assuming the gloves were contaminated with blood, could HIV be transmitted this way through my wound that was just stitched up?
-
No it could not.
-
Hi - I guess I am confused and still very worried. My wound was deep from having the mole removed (it required 3 stitches) and the assistant touched my back only 15 or seconds after touching someone else's blood. Assuming it was blood I saw on his gloves and not iodine, there was definitely not just a few specks either as it was enough discoloration for me to notice from afar. Why couldn't this transmit the virus if the virus can stay alive for up to several minutes? Is it because it first touched the gloves and then my wound? For my piece of mind, I would really appreciate if someone could explain to me the reasoning behind why the virus wouldn't be transmitted in this situation. Thank you so much. I appreciate all your help!!
-
So,
Do you honestly think a doctor in this litigious day and age is going to go from one patient to another with bloody gloves? That would be a one-way ticket to a medical malpractice lawsuit.
Get a grip. Hiv is NOT your problem - but it would seem an irrational fear of medical procedures probably is. We cannot help you with that here - and I suggest you seek professional help in order to sort your fears based in outlandish fantasies from the truth.
You have NOT had a risk for hiv by any stretch of the imagination.
Ann
-
Hi Ann - To clarify, it wasn't the doctor. It wasn't even a nurse. It was just the assistant who seems to be very absent minded (I had been in the doctor's office other times and heard the doctor yelling at him for one thing or another). The assistant came running into the room and said "sorry I'm late!". Instead of focusing on how unlikely you believe the scenario is that he actually had blood on his gloves, can you help me understand why even if he did, it would not be transmitted given that the assistant would have touched the other person's blood 15 seconds before touching my wound that had just been stitched up moments before? Thank you so much!
-
It was explained to you why HIV isn't viable when exposed to air . You have been given the answer you asked for and cannot except it from us or any of the other places on the net you have asked the same question at .
HIV isn't transmitted by touching , kissing or off countertops or in the manner you described because its a fragile easily damaged virus .
-
So it would have died in the 15 seconds between the time the assistant touched the blood with the gloves to when he touched my wound?
-
So it would have died in the 15 seconds between the time the assistant touched the blood with the gloves to when he touched my wound?
Yes .
-
So it doesn't take up to several minutes like I read in other places? I'm sorry for all the questions - I am just so worried about this.
-
No and you were advised of it in a Doctor's Forum and community forum on another website.
-
Thank you! Ann - can you confirm you agree with them since your post was based on the unlikelihood of the event actually happening instead of if there actually was blood?
-
You have NOT had a risk for hiv by any stretch of the imagination.
Ann
As Ann told you before you didn't have a risk and HIV isn't your problem . No matter how many times you ask the question the answer you have been given here will remain the same . You did not have a risk .
-
Yes but I think Ann made that statement based on the fact that she believed the assistant never had blood on his gloves.
-
■Anyone who continues to post excessively, questioning a conclusive negative result, or no-risk situation will be subject to a four week Time Out (a temporary ban from the Forums). If you continue to post excessively after one Time Out, you may be given a second Time Out which will last eight weeks. There is no third Time Out - it is a permanent ban. The purpose of a Time Out is to encourage you to seek the face-to-face help we cannot provide on this forum.
-
Consider yourself warned .
-
Hi all, I recently had an exposure I am very concerned about. I stepped on a small piece of glass that caused me to start bleeding when I was at pool. Obviously a lot of people walk around barefoot at the pool and my concern is if someone had stepped on the glass right before me and they had HIV and their blood was on the piece of glass I stepped on. Would the virus be transmitted this way? It is now a few weeks after exposure and I have had night sweats for the past week (one drenching, others dampen the sheets). I also had a swollen lymph node under one of my armpits. I really appreciate your help. Thank you!
-
Several things ... do not start another thread and only post in this one no matter how long its been . If you cant find your thread , go to your profile and select show own post and it will take you here . Your questions have already been answered in your original thread and you have received a warning about posting about no risk situations where your questions have already been addressed .
I will issue a time out if you come back asking questions that has already been addressed , by all rights I should have already .
Please read this thread again and you will not have to ask the same things over and over .
Anyone who continues to post excessively, questioning a conclusive negative result or no-risk situation, will be subject to a four week Time Out (a temporary ban from the Forums). If you continue to post excessively after one Time Out, you may be given a second Time Out which will last eight weeks. There is no third Time Out - it is a permanent ban. The purpose of a Time Out is to encourage you to seek the face-to-face help we cannot provide on this forum.