Scarleteen

I've done a lot of reading on this blog and I've read your article about condom usage and although it was helpful, I am just a little confused. This is not a pregnancy scare question but instead I am trying to get informed for future usage, so that I can be safe. Where does the percentage of condom failures come in with "perfect usage?" If perfect usage means there was not a tear, break, or slippage (which would be obvious) how is there still a small failure rate?

Hi LadySteph! The effectiveness rates cover usage over an entire year, instead of just one instance. So 98% is the average effectiveness of condoms if you use them properly for an entire year. The small percentage of failure rates with "perfect" use comes from people using condoms properly but them still failing in some way like tearing or slipping.

Oh! That makes so much more sense. At first I was thinking it's from like small holes but I've read other posts where you addressed that it doesn't happen like that. Thank you so much!

No problem! Happy to help