What to Do if Condom Breaks to Prevent Pregnancy
What to do when a condom breaks to prevent pregnancy, and when to become an STI test
- When a safe breaks during sex, you may exist at risk for pregnancy and/or contracting an STI.
- Emergency contraceptives like plan B and Ella tin prevent pregnancy as can getting a copper-IUD.
- You should get tested for an STI, though some STIs don't show upward on lab tests for up to half dozen weeks.
- Visit Insider's Health Reference library for more advice.
External, or "male", condoms interruption between 0.6% to fifteen% of the fourth dimension, which increases the risk of unplanned pregnancy and exposure to sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
When a condom breaks during sex, you must accept emergency contraceptives every bit presently as possible to minimize the risk of pregnancy. You should also get tested for STIs, which helps y'all get treated sooner rather than afterward.
Improper storage, incorrect application, and misuse of condoms during sex can all increment the likelihood of breakage.
All reasons for breakage of external condoms apply to internal or "female" condoms likewise, says Lubna Pal, Md, professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at Yale School of Medicine.
Here'southward how to tell when a prophylactic breaks and what to practise at the moment and later.
How to know if the safe breaks
When wearing a condom, a key sign that it has cleaved is if you lot experience a loss of tension effectually the penis. For your partner, they may feel the leakage of semen if the break is large enough, says Pal.
"If the condom breaks pre-ejaculation and is identified, corrective measures (like removing the cleaved condom and wearing a new one) can be taken to decrease exposure to the semen," says Tania Basu Serna, Doctor, MPH, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Academy of California, San Francisco.
Some people don't detect the condom break until after the intercourse, then bank check for any harm before and after wearing the condom. Inspect it for obvious holes, tears, or leaks periodically during sex or when irresolute positions.
The risk of getting pregnant from pre-ejaculate (or pre-cum) is very low, but not completely zero. "If the condom breaks post ejaculation, at that place is a higher risk of semen exposure just it is still about 50% lower than not using a condom at all," says Serna.
If the person wearing the prophylactic feels a modify in sensation with how information technology fits, whether pre- or post-ejaculation, they should pull out immediately.
Preventing pregnancy after condom breakage
"The best preventive approach is to non solely rely on condoms for contraception," says Pal. If you're using some other form of contraception, the risk of pregnancy is reduced simply not completely eliminated.
For example, the birth control pill is 99% effective when used correctly. So, if you've been consistently taking the pill at the same time each mean solar day, every day, and so your chances of condign pregnant if a condom breaks are minimal. All the same, if y'all missed a birth control dose recently, your chances of adventitious pregnancy jump from one to virtually nine %, says Serna.
In any case, to prevent pregnancy after condom breakage, you should have emergency contraceptives as soon as possible.
The most constructive method of emergency contraception is the copper intrauterine device (Cu-IUD), which is inserted in the uterus. You'd need to schedule an engagement with a health professional person within five days of intercourse to go it inserted.
Unlike emergency contraceptive pills, the Cu-IUD also serves as a long-acting method of contraception and can prevent pregnancy up to 12 years, unless you have it removed before then.
"For all these methods, the sooner they are utilized, the more than constructive they are as emergency contraception," says Serna.
Getting tested for STIs if a safe breaks
Condom breakage, whether earlier or after ejaculation, puts both partners at risk for STIs, according to Pal. This ways that you should get tested for STIs no matter what, unless you have been in a long-term mutually monogamous human relationship.
Correct and consistent condom use doesn't completely prevent STIs because the only way to prevent STIs is to avoid sex altogether. However, practicing condom sex, getting tested regularly, and taking prescribed pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) if you're at risk for HIV exposure, tin can reduce the take chances of getting STIs.
You lot tin can as well avoid contracting the human papillomavirus (HPV), the most common STI, past getting the HPV vaccine.
Afterwards condom breakage, you have to wait out a certain window period before getting tested to accurately detect the bacteria or virus. "The nearly reliable testing for gonorrhea and chlamydia is in ii weeks. For syphilis, one week to three months. HIV, Hepatitis B, and C, it tin can take half dozen weeks to three months," says Serna.
You might have been exposed to the homo immunodeficiency virus (HIV) every bit well, and so talk to a wellness professional about post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). You should take it equally shortly as possible, or within three days, to prevent contracting HIV. If you are at gamble of possibly getting exposed to HIV again in the future, you tin commencement taking PrEP to preclude contracting the virus.
Why practice condoms interruption?
Many factors increment the likelihood of condom breakage, which include:
- Improper storage, like keeping the condom inside the wallet or exposing it to extreme temperatures. You should store condoms in a cool, dry place with ventilation and low humidity.
- Wrong application, such every bit using the wrong size, forgetting to leave space between the tip of the penis and the external condom, placing information technology hastily, putting information technology on inside out, or wearing two at a time. An external condom should encompass the length of the penis, leaving a ½ inch gap at the top.
- Misuse during sex, like reusing condoms, using it beyond the expiration engagement, using oils or lotions instead of h2o-based lubricants, and letting the condom come into contact with anything sharp during sex, such as nails, rings, or piercings.
It's necessary to store, wear, and utilise a condom properly to minimize the risk of condom breakage. Read more than about how to put on an external and internal safety correctly and tell if information technology's a proficient fit. When worn properly, condoms are 95% to 98% effective at preventing pregnancy.
Insider's takeaway
When a condom breaks due to improper storage, awarding, or use, the person wearing it may experience a loosening sensation around their penis. Safe breakage puts people at risk for pregnancy, then it'southward crucial to take emergency contraceptive pills or accept a Cu-IUD inserted immediately.
There's as well a take a chance of STI exposure, merely you have to wait out a window catamenia for the leaner or virus to be accurately detected. Talk to your health care provider about taking PEP or the HPV vaccine to reduce your risk of contracting HIV and HPV.
Plan B 1-Pace can be bought over the counter, but Ella is only available past prescription from a health professional. "To improve having admission to [emergency contraceptive] pills, particularly if you cannot easily find the pill at your local chemist's shop, talk to your wellness care provider about having an advanced prescription then you can have this in your medicine cabinet or purse, just in case," says Serna.
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