Pubic Hair Grooming May Raise STI Risk

More men and women worldwide are buying into the behavior of removing the pubic hair as most of them it is a cleaner and more attractive move.

Shaving your pubic hair id not safeBut a recent study conducted on 7,500 people of ages 18 to 65 discovered an interesting link – it is not safe to groom as it increases prospects of an STD tests in.

The study was able to come up with some groups including the “extreme groomers,” those who wax, shave or trim completely on a monthly basis. Their risk to the infection was quadrupled. 

The study went on to explain that it did not matter the type of grooming you picked because generally they all showed an 80% higher risk of getting an infection as opposed to those who didn’t groom.

Grooming and sexual activity

The researchers have explained that grooming showed preparedness for a sexual encounter which in turn is associated with infection risk. At the same time, getting rid of the pubic hair may lead to tears on the skin that bacteria and viruses can penetrate.

Their recommendation to the doctors is that they should advise patients about the safe sexual practices if they happen to notice indicatives of grooming in the surgery.

“We found that a greater proportion of groomers reported a history of STIs than non-groomers. Grooming may cause epidermal micro-tears, which may increase the risk of STIs. As a second possible explanation for our findings, shared use of grooming tools may lead to STI transmission,” said Dr Benjamin Breyer, of San Francisco General Hospital.

Limitations to the study

The study does not directly imply that if you groom you will be infected with STD. Instead, you can decide to look at it a suggestive study, covered by many other factors. Like for instance, the researchers did not account for the idea of grooming people being sexually active.

As explained by Breyer, it is possible that “individuals who groom may be more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors than those who do not groom.” As much as they adjusted their study to factor in only lifetime sexual partners, chances are that the study “may have been confounded by risky sexual behaviors,” says Breyer.

Study outcomes

Generally, for every four participants, three of them reported to have groomed before. The women recorded a higher grooming rate (84%) as opposed to the men (66%).

The study ended up with extreme groomers who were 17 percent and high frequency groomers (those who groom per week day partially). They took 22 percent as one person in every 10 being found in both categories.

In all in all, most of the groomers were young people who were sexually active with more sexual partners. 13 percent of the participants positively confirmed they had one of the following infections – HIV, HPV, gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, molluscum or pubic lice. The last infection (lice) is interesting considering that it literally needs the hair to breed its eggs. Grooming kills that.

 

Contributor: admin