Q: I gave head to a guy I met when I was studying abroad, and now I’m worried about STDs. We didn’t use a condom, but he didn’t orgasm. Should I still get tested?

A: Don’t get yourself too worked up over it, but yes, you should get tested. Really, you should get tested after every new sexual partner (yes, oral sex counts). I’ll preface this by saying that I’m not a doctor–which is especially why you should see one–but I do strongly urge you to go get tested, for your health and more so, your peace of mind.

The greater the quantity of infected semen you’re exposed to, the greater the chances are that you may have something–of course, that’s assuming in the first place that the guy even has an STD. Since he didn’t ejaculate, you were at most, only exposed to pre-cum–so yes, it’s technically possible you caught something if he was infected, but the risk is low.

For something like HIV or hepatitis B, which is passed through the bloodstream, you would have to have had abrasions or cuts in your mouth (from a dental visit or biting your tongue, for example.) The same isn’t true for genital warts or herpes, which can spread through contact with the lesion. Even if you inspected his package with a microscope before going downtown, and you’re sure you didn’t see anything suspicious, remember that it’s still possible (but not super likely) to catch something even if there is no active, visible outbreak. Read More »

The first time I heard about HPV (Human papillomavirus), I’m pretty sure it was during a flash of a Gardisal commercial where a fresh faced young women talked about a vaccine to help prevent it.

My first thought? What is HPV? My second thought, if there’s no signs of symptoms, how do I know I don’t have it?

In school, Sex-Ed visuals of puffy soars, warts, and growths scared me so much I barely wanted to touch a penis (though, I still did) but THAT was the connotation I had of sexually transmitted diseases. I figured it there was ever a burning sensation, I should seriously get my stuff checked, otherwise smooth sailing.

Being the smart woman I am, I “maned up” and got tests, visited my lovely gyno-lady and thankfully that all came out super clean, but here’s the thing;

With diseases like HPV, there are no signs of the virus–only rarely are there types of warts. And the scariest part about it, there are 30-40 types of the disease and the most commonly transmitted HPV types may lead to HPV-induced cancer. Cervical cancer being one of them. Hi, terrifying. Read More »