Protected sex with a sex worker

[Newbie123]

Hi everyone, 

I recently had protected sex with a sex worker. I asked her before and after whether she had any infections and both times she vehemently refused. She had a bit of hair down there so I couldn't see clearly but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. We had a shower both before and after the encounter. Should I be worried that she may have transmitted herpes or anything else for that matter to me? I'm in a country where sex work is legal and so sex workers often have regular check ups and I have not had any symptoms as of yet but it was pretty recent

 

Thanks!

[Newbie123]

Hope this is not tmi but I'm also circumcised and I know this reduces the risk of transmission of certain STDs

 

[Anonymous88]

If your circumcised it does reduce the risk but as herpes is a skin condition depending on where it is it could still be transferred through a break in the skin. They don't test for it here in the uk unless you have a sore to swab so I would just keep an eye on it. The more sexual partners you have the more likely you are to get it so with her being a sex worker she is at more risk of it being transferred to her as unfortunetely condoms don't offer full protection.

[Newbie123]

I'm pretty certain that I had no breaks in the skin around my penis as the sex wasn't particularly rough and I inspected the area soon after and there was no sign of irritation or breaks. From my knowledge the only point of entry then would be mucous membranes which would be covered by the condom right? Am I worrying excessively? 

Sorry if I come across insensitive or anything like that I'm relatively new here and have no one to talk to about this... 

[Anonymous88]

No judgement here at all, so please don't worry about that.

Yes your right the other entry would be through mucous membranes.

Try not to stress over it,Hopefully all is fine but it's good you are aware of this as I had no idea with herpes and that you could still pass it even with condoms. 

 

[Newbie123]

Thank you so much for the replies. I'll try not to worry too much. I've been reading around a lot but of course that puts you in a downwards spiral when you don't have anyone to talk to about it. 

I think my main worry is just the fact that doing something like this is really unlike me and my feeling guilt is manifesting into illogical worries maybe. But it's always good to talk to someone who knows more about this stuff than me so I can understand more. Thanks again!

[Anonymous88]

No problem. I went from not knowing about herpes at all until a guy knowingly gave it to me but didn't tell me, to now having to educate myself on it and seem to know more than some of the doctors at the gp surgery now haha. 

It has made me soo paranoid so completely understand how that feels.

Take care