Lip biting and a cold question

[Jellowl]

I have this little habit of biting the inside of my lip. As gross as this sounds, I'll spend a fair amount of time ripping away at the skin until it's rough. I can't really pin point the reason why I do this, I usually do it when I'm bored and I have a hard time stopping. I have gotten over biting till it's dripping with blood ( I used to bleed alot from the bites but now it's just on the surface and sometimes bleeds lightly). My question is whether or not it is safe to make out with my boyfriend while my lips are slightly raw and bleeding a little. Is there a chance of getting something bad like an STI or anything of the sorts? (None of use have any history of cold sores or STIs that we know about.)

As an added question, I'd like to ask about my cold. Both my boyfriend and I have been struggling with our colds for about a week ( Wonder how we both got that, hmm? xD). This includes the whole runny nose and general stuffiness. However, I'm begining to get a chest cough that includes a little bit of mucus; I am more likely to get them due to some breathing issues I had as a child. I'm wondering if my boyfriend and I makeout, will it cause both of use to get even sicker? Or would he/me be less likely to get sicker since we are already sick?

Thank you in advance for the advice,
Hope you have a lovely day.

[Karyn]

Open wounds do make infection more likely, but if neither one of you has any STIs or other illnesses, then it's not really an issue. (I will say though that there's no way to know about STIs for sure without testing, so if you've never done that, now is as good a time as any to get it done!) You can read more about STIs and what activities pose risks in this piece: Can I Get Pregnant, or Get or Pass On an STI From That?

Per the cold issue, if you're both sick with the same thing, making out isn't going to change how sick you are: you already have a virus, you can't give it to each other again.