Dear Doc,

Recently I visited a sex worker but I did not had any 'real sex' with her. I did however use a vibrator on her. After that I used my fingers to remove the condom that I put on the vibrator. There were vaginal fluids on the condom and my fingers came into contact with the fluid. I am a frequent nail biter and the skin on my fingers are always broken due to my constant biting. Am I at risk of being infected with HIV in this case? I am very very worried and I cannot find any similar questions online. Please advise. Do I need testing? Thanks and I will definitely donate, I really respect all that you have done for us. Thanks!

Hi,

I'm not surprised you couldn't find a question identical to yours online! When most folks visit a sex worker, they would want her to do the work of having sex! In other words, she would use the vibrator on them or perform other pleasurable activities for her visitor. Nonetheless, to each his own. Whatever floats your boat safely is fine and dandy with me! And you did safely float your boat, by the way. Your HIV risk from removing the condom from the vibrator is nonexistent, even if the condom had vaginal secretions on it and you had some areas of irritation from constantly munching on your nails. Check out the archives and you'll find lots of "fingering" questions from questioners with these same concerns. Those posts should be very reassuring for you.

Do you need HIV testing? No, certainly not for HIV-diagnostic purposes. However, if you continue to be fixated on this (non-) risk, get a single HIV-antibody test (ELISA, EIA, rapid test) at the three-month mark to put your unwarranted worries permanently to rest. The results of your test will undoubtedly be negative. One additional thing I would recommend you do is to stop biting your nails. It's a nasty habit and besides, nails have absolutely no nutritional value!

Dr. Bob