HIV

Do I still need condoms if I am on PrEP?

Started PrEP a couple of months ago. A friend says condoms are now optional, which does not sound right to me but I could not explain why.

held_note 2 months ago

NoteMember experience, not medical advice. Symptoms overlap between infections and only a test can tell them apart.

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kite_and_string 1 month ago

Your instinct is right. PrEP is very effective at preventing HIV when taken as prescribed. It does nothing at all about chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis, herpes or HPV.

So the honest framing is: PrEP handles one infection extremely well and leaves the rest of the list untouched.

night_bus 1 month ago

Which is exactly why PrEP programmes include regular STI screening as part of the monitoring rather than as an optional extra. The people who designed the programme assumed this question would come up.

almostfine 1 month ago

Where it does change things is in risk of HIV specifically, and for a lot of people that is what the daily anxiety was about. It is reasonable for that to feel different. It just is not the same statement as no longer needing condoms.

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