What are the risks from fingering someone?
Fingering is considered a low-risk for HIV. I am not aware of any documented cases of anyone becoming infected with HIV specifically through this activity. If there are fresh, open cuts on the fingers, there would be some possibility of infection. However, since most of the time people don’t have fresh open cuts on their fingers, this is generally considered a low-risk activity. Any breakdown in the integrity of the skin can allow HIV to enter the bloodstream. This includes cuts, abrasions, lesions from STDs (like herpes) or skin problems like dermatitis. For cuts, once a scab forms (usually within a few hours), this would no longer give access to the bloodstream, preventing HIV from entering. Of course, the deeper the cut, or the more severe the damage to the skin, the longer it will take for healing to take place. Not everyone heals (and therefore produces a scab) at the same rate, so nobody can give you an exact amount of time it would take for a cut to heal, or for a scab to form.
