Hello. I am a heterosexual woman who gave a handjob to a heterosexual male, HIV status unknown. My concern is around a small paper cut on the outside edge of my pinky finger. The hand with the cut (which was maybe .5 cm and not bleeding) was the one in contact with the penis. Althought there was pre cum near the head, the pinky finger was nearer the base (and therefore had less exposure to fluids). The man finished himself off and when we were done, I used some hand sanitizer, which alerted me to the paper cut , which I had not previously noticed. What are the potential risks involved, regarding STI's in particularly HIV? I am prone to anxiety and am extremely worried about this scenario. Any advice would be appreciated. thank you

Home / Answered Questions / Hello. I am a heterosexual woman who gave a handjob to a heterosexual male, HIV status unknown. My concern is around a small paper cut on the outside edge of my pinky finger. The hand with the cut (which was maybe .5 cm and not bleeding) was the one in contact with the penis. Althought there was pre cum near the head, the pinky finger was nearer the base (and therefore had less exposure to fluids). The man finished himself off and when we were done, I used some hand sanitizer, which alerted me to the paper cut , which I had not previously noticed. What are the potential risks involved, regarding STI’s in particularly HIV? I am prone to anxiety and am extremely worried about this scenario. Any advice would be appreciated. thank you

Hello. I am a heterosexual woman who gave a handjob to a heterosexual male, HIV status unknown. My concern is around a small paper cut on the outside edge of my pinky finger. The hand with the cut (which was maybe .5 cm and not bleeding) was the one in contact with the penis. Althought there was pre cum near the head, the pinky finger was nearer the base (and therefore had less exposure to fluids). The man finished himself off and when we were done, I used some hand sanitizer, which alerted me to the paper cut , which I had not previously noticed. What are the potential risks involved, regarding STI’s in particularly HIV? I am prone to anxiety and am extremely worried about this scenario. Any advice would be appreciated. thank you

I have not heard of HIV passing with what you have described.

HIV does not live for long when it is out of the body. It also sounds like your finger did not come in contact with the fluid and that it was a small cut.

Giving someone a hand job is one of the safer ways to have sex.

It could be possible to pass an STI to your hands if the other person had something like herpes, syphilis or warts (HPV) on their genitals, but it is not common for them to pass this way. I have never seen or heard of them passing this way from what I have seen in the clinic or from the people I work with.

Have a look at our “Know your chances” web page, it provides information on your chances of getting or passing an STI depending on how you are having sex.

Please leave a comment to let us know if this answers your question or if you need more information.

Health Nurse

For other readers, please feel free to leave a comment, or let us know if this was helpful.

This answer was posted on August 30, 2014.

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