Risk of blade cut

[Anxiousoverthink]

Went to the barber shop just now, the barber shave the back of neck and injured me. Not sure whether there was a cut but I felt painful when I shower and sanitize the area. However, the barber shop has only one customer at that moment and she only started to shave the back of my neck after 20 minutes. My questions are

1. am I at risk of having hiv?
2. Assuming that the previous customer is hiv positive and left blood on the blade, how long does the virus survive on the blade. 20 mins should be enough time for the virus to die right?

[Dr. Zeng Shanyong]

Hi,

You should check in with your barber. Most barbers use a disposable razor instead of a straight razer. If it's a disposable blade, you have no risk of HIV.

Assuming it's a straight razer and the previous customer is HIV positive and left blood on the blade, the risk of HIV transmission this way is still negligible. HIV simply doesn't survive long in an external environment. To date there has been no cases of environmental transmission of HIV as well.

Regards

[Anxiousoverthink]

Hi dr,

I have check with the barber, she said she never use disposable razor, instead she claims she sterilised the shaver everytime a new customer comes. From the cut (as attached) , do u think it’s possible that the HIV virus can get inside? It didn’t bleed but it was red and painful when I shower and sanitize it.

[Dr. Zeng Shanyong]

Hi,

If the blade is sterilized before every use, the risk of HIV infection is negligible.

Regards

[Anxiousoverthink]

Hi dr,

Thanks for the speedy reply. I think that she said that she had sterilised the shaver is not true. She just wants to skip this mistake.
. However, before she cut the back of my neck with the shaver, she did used it to trim my sideburns, no cuts were established. So my question is, even there was hiv positive blood from the previous customer on the shaver, after getting contact with my intact skin(my sideburns) first, then 20 mins later she cut me with the same shaver, no transmission of hiv should be done right? I read an article from China saying that once HIV virus got contact with a surface, they lost the ability to transmit.

[Dr. Zeng Shanyong]

Yes you are right that HIV loses the ability to infect rapidly once on an external surface

[Anxiousoverthink]

Hi dr,

if Hiv virus cannot be transit from contact of surface( environmental), why hiv can still be transmitted by sharing needles? Isn’t it the same concept of getting hiv from sharing shaver and gotten a cut

[Bubu]

From my underatanding,

Needle has closed environment,so HIV can live longer.But on surface,HIV will be exposured to air,wind and sun...so it will die immediately.

[Dr. Zeng Shanyong]

With sharing needles, the needle is hollow bored. It means that there is blood inside the actual needle.

Also with sharing needles, the time passed between person to person is very short.

Hence the increased risk with sharing needles.