Since we are human and tend to not have laboratory-style sex, how well do they actually work in reality to prevent HIV for gay men? It’s a question I get from time to time at the clinic-and I can tell you, the effectiveness is different for gay men than it is for people having penis/vagina sex. In laboratory testing, condoms used perfectly according to directions should be 99.5% effective against HIV with only mechanical failure (i.e. I’m here to offer a gentle reminder: Let’s not throw condoms out with the bath water! They still have a role to play in protecting the sexual health of gay men-since they can protect against STIs in addition to HIV.
With all the news and research related to PrEP these days, it’s almost easy for gay men to forget about condoms for HIV prevention.
