QUESTION
I met a new guy and we made out for a long time. We also did mutual masturbation. After he came, I realized I had a small cut on one of my fingers from the day before. The cut was not fresh, but it still hurt. I'm not sure if cum touched the cut. What's the risk of contracting HIV?

ANSWER
Your risk of contracting HIV from the activities you described is extremely low. While I would be remiss to say zero, the actual risk is quite close to zero especially because the cut was not open and fresh. There have been no reported cases to my knowledge of HIV being transmitted from a person transferring cum with his hand or finger to another person -- blood to blood or to broken skin yes, but not cum to broken skin.

Most prevention educators and public health folks have supported mutual masturbation as a safer sex activity. Many would suggest that during mutual masturbation, you avoid using your partner's cum as lubricant, because cum does contain infectious HIV.

Here's the short list from www.HIVinsite.org regarding how to have safer sex without using condoms:

1. Come on me, not in me.
2. Outercourse can be just as much fun as intercourse.
3. Swallow or spit, just don't let it sit.

To your health,
Dr. K