Transmission risk or not?

[Hidden]

Hello everyone. I want to start off by saying I've read the lesson on transmission and also read back several pages on the board, but I can't find my exact situation. I did find a few threads that said blood to blood transmission isn't a risk, but is that true even if fresh blood gets in to an open wound?

What happened was, I was getting my hair done and my hairdresser cut himself. As far as I know, no blood got on my scalp, he washed his hands and put liquid bandage (Nuskin or something like it) on it, let it dry, and continued as normal. What I'm worried about is I have really oily skin, so I get bumps on my scalp that I pick at or pop (gross, sorry.) They don't bleed but do scab over. I was also getting my hair bleached, which irritates the hell out of your scalp, but I don't THINK it causes a wound or burn of any sort that could be infected. Basically I want to know what risk of transmission there is from this. I know I'm probably being ridiculous, I read over most of the threads in this forum and think "oh wow, that's impossible," as you'll probably think when you read over this lol.

Also, how effective is liquid bandage in general as a sealant to keep pathogens in/out of a wound?

Thank you.

[Matty the Damned]

OK.

First up this isn't a "blood to blood" transmission risk scenario. "Blood to blood" in HIV transmission terms refers to HIV contaminated blood from one person finding it's way directly into the blood stream of another person. Like sharing needles or receiving a contaminated blood transfusion or a health worker sustaining a major needle-stick injury from an HIV positive patient.

So let's just drop the "blood to blood" talk right now, yes? It doesn't apply to your situation.

A situation which you yourself acknowledge is not possible when it comes to transmitting HIV. You were not at risk from this. Your hairdresser followed proper hygiene procedures (no doubt for his own protection) in this case and there is no need for your to test.

You might want to review our Lessons.

MtD

[Andy Velez]

The kind of situation you have described in a barber shop comes up every now and then when someone is concerned about nicks, cuts, bruises and the like. There's never been a documented case of transmission in that manner and you aren't going to make history by becoming the first. HIV is a fragile virus. It requires the very receptive setting provided by unprotected vaginal or anal intercourse to be transmitted.

You're good to go this time and worrying needlessly.

Cheers,

[Hidden]

Thank you both.

[Andy Velez]

You're welcome. I'm glad you found the exchanges to be helpful.

Cheers,

[Hidden]

One more question... how likely is it that I could have been infected from a year of on/off unprotected receptive vaginal/anal sex with one person, who was monogamous with me but didn't know his status (getting him to go to the Dr. for anything requires divine intervention, at the very least,) with sex ending in late May, and me testing negative in late June. Should I be worried, am I likely to test negative 3 months from May?

I don't want to what if, or find transmission risks that aren't there, I know how annoying it is for y'all and how frequently it happens on this board. I have OCD and anxiety issues that I'm in therapy for, mainly coming from a different, previous ex who played with my head telling me he tested pos right after we broke up. I'm 100% sure he was just doing it for revenge, and he's not pos, even if he is, he didn't infect me. However, that, and our whole abusive relationship led to a general nervous breakdown and subsequent hysteria about contracting HIV. I'm working through it all, and as I said, I know how annoying what ifs and constant freaking out is for y'all, from what I've seen, 98% of posts on this topic are like that, and out of that, 80% didn't even have a risk to begin with. I did have a risk, however, and I need to know how likely I am to test pos after all this time. It's what I need to let go.

Thank you all for the work you do, I would have long ago thrown in the towel and bitch-slapped most of the people who post here and then won't/can't listen to reason.

With love,
Hidden

[RapidRod]

Read the lessons on transmission. You can find the link in the "Welcome" thread.

[Hidden]

As I stated in my first post, I've read the lesson on transmission. Unprotected receptive vaginal/anal sex is a viable way of transmission.

[RapidRod]

What part of what you read is it that you don't understand?

[Ann]

Hidden,

Yes, you've had a risk. The only conclusive test result is one at three months past your last incident of unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse.

However, if your negative result was six weeks or more past your last time, then the result is not likely to change at the three month point.

You need to learn from this and make sure condoms are being used until you're in a monogamous relationship where you've both tested TOGETHER for hiv.

Ann

[Hidden]

What part of what you read is it that you don't understand?

I understood the entire lesson. My question was, how likely would it be that I could have sex with him for that long, then test neg in June, but have contracted it in April-May (therefore not testing pos in June because it hadn't been long enough for antibodies to be present.) I guess that's something you don't want to speculate on, I understand.


ETA: Thanks, Ann. I'm retesting at 3 months anyways, and I'll make sure in any future relationships that we both get tested together before we even think about having sex, period. That's a decision everyone needs to make, I just wish most of us didn't need a wakeup call in order to do so.

[RapidRod]

HIV is nothing to speculate about. You need to test out to 3 months to receive your conclusive negative result. Not everyone gets infected with there first exposure or their fiftieths exposure but continuing to have unprotected sex puts you at risk. Get tested, use condoms until such time you have both tested together and you are in a monogamous relationship.