embarassing question lol

[xmetalgirl]

Hello!
So this is embarassing to ask lol. I have been using hemmorhoid medicine on my butt of course. And sometimes the medicine would spread around to the lower part of the butt and very close to the vagina (since the two are very close to each other also).And i had sex using condoms but now I am unsure if the medicine would affect the condoms like oils, vaseline, creams do etc. Is this a serious risk? Help!

[Jacob]

Hi xmetalgirl,

That is a really good question that I hadn't thought of before... hemmorhoid creams actually vary. Some are water-based and some are petrolium-jelly based, so they could have a negative effect on condoms and increase the risk of those condoms breaking. This means it depends on the exact content of your cream... I would say this is a really good question to ask your pharmacist or the doctor who prescribed it. You might be particularly good at interpreting the ingredients written on the side of the container, which could answer the water-based/petrolium-jelly question, but if other less common ingredients could harm condoms you might not be able to tell... personally I would ask a professional about that, as continuing is something you do at your own risk.

I hope this helps!

[xmetalgirl]

Helps a little. Mine is oil based and i think petrolium. Im just not sure if it would be bad on the condoms. I dont spread it all over the condom like lube but it is just very close in that area and i realized i should of washed it off just to be safe. Well, does these types of creams that are not water based only make the condoms less effective because it causes them to fully break? Or does it make the pores of the condoms bigger for sperm and diseases to spread or something? (Is there even pores on condoms? Like sometimes I hear people say there is and some people say there isnt any) I dont really know why creams, oils, vaseline etc are bad for condoms, i just know that theyre bad but I dont know exactly how they make condoms less effective

[Jacob]

Ahah. Well with that I would say it could be good to try and find an alternative, or as you say, wash it off. Condoms do not have pores but the latex they are made of does break down with petrolium jelly... I would say this paper from 1989 looks pretty compelling and cites up to 90% loss in strength:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2535978

[Redskies]

Hi, xmetalgirl. Very happy to answer these things for you!

First, about "pores" in condoms: nope, they're aren't any, that's a myth. At least, there aren't any pores in any kinds of condoms, latex or non-latex, that you're at all likely to come across anywhere. There's a different kind of condom made from animal which are still effective at preventing pregnancy but which may let through certain bacteria or viruses, so they're not good for protection from STIs - that may be where some of the myth about "pores" comes from. Those kinds of condoms are more expensive and pretty rare, for obvious reasons, because there's better options!

The issue with oil-based products and latex condoms is that oil degrades and weakens latex. That makes it more likely for a condom to break. There's not a particular reason to be concerned about the sex you already had, because a condom break is going to be really obvious, so you can assume that the condom did its job. For the future, while you're using any kind of oil-based cream on or near your genitals, it's a much better idea to use non-latex condoms, because they won't be affected by the oil. You should be able to find at least one non-latex option in any place that has any kind of range of condoms; inside condoms ("female" condoms) are also non-latex.