What is the HIV risk when having sex with a too-small condom?

If a man had sex with a female commercial sex worker and the condom, although tight, only went midway down the shaft, what is the likelyhood of HIV infection, assuming said sex worker was HIV positive? No ejaculation left the male but he did go far enough inside the woman to have the exposed, uncovered portion of his penis inside her. Please advise.

Hi there,

First of all I'd like to thank you for calling these women a commerical sex worker as opposed to a whore. It's quite refreshing. You can relax. The condom covered the important part with regards to HIV. Unless you had open bleeding cuts or sores on your penis which was exposed then you would have reason to worry. The only real concern with wearing a condom that is too small is the chance that it could rip more easily.

Cheers.

Elevated chance. If the condom was that tight the movement may have rubbed the skin raw or caused microtears in the shaft of the penis, leaving it even more exposed. Additionally women frequently have minor tears inside their vagina's causing them to bleed which will spread the infection. You should get an STD test done now and a repeat test in 3 months. The test probably won't show anything now, but if you're positive it will start registering on the tests about 3 months after exposure. It's very unsafe to be having sexual intercourse with an HIV infected person with just a condom as condoms have been known to break. If you should chose to do it again (which I don't recommend) use a properly fitted male condom AND a female condom with lots of lubrication. Good Luck. And it would be better if you abstain from sex with other partners until you know your STD status, for their safety.

As far as the risk for HIV transmission, there are a few factors that come into play.

- do you currently have any visible cuts/sores/lesions on your penis shaft that would have come into contact with the sex worker's vagina? If so, there is a possibility that HIV could have been transmitted from her vaginal fluids into a cut/core/lesion on your penis.

-if you do not, HIV cannot enter the body through the skin on your penis shaft (it may be possible to enter through the foreskin, urethra (pee hole), but from your description they were covered.

- I would suggest that you consider more than just HIV. While the risk of HIV transmission is low from what you described, the risk of syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, genital herpes, genital warts (HPV) could be much higher if the sex worker was infected. It is never a bad idea to go to your local health unit/doctors office to get screened for STIs. Most people don't experience any symtoms but can still be infected and infectious.

There is a higher chance.