08 October 23

Ending HIV

You’ve got cum in your eye – now what?

A rope of hot white liquid zooms towards you in slow motion. The erotic tension of orgasm ripples across your face when suddenly it’s interrupted by impact. Cum. You’ve got cum your eye!

It happens to the best of us, and whether your partner was aiming for your face or not, you’ve got semen in your eye.

Here’s what you should do and some questions about STIs to consider.

Wash it out as soon as possible

Your first step should be to gently rinse out your eye, ideally with a saline solution or with some lukewarm tap water. If you are wearing contacts, keep them in while you do the initial rinsing, as they form a protective barrier over your eye.

Once you’ve rinsed out your eye, you may take your contacts out and clean them with your usual disinfecting solution. Avoid using soap or any disinfectant in your eye as this will irritate it further.

Keep an eye on it

It’s normal for your eye to feel irritated for a time after you’ve something in it, but it should clear up over the next day or so. If you continue to experience irritation over the next several days, seek medical advice.

Can you get HIV from semen in your eye?

HIV transmission from semen in your eye is extremely unlikely. While theoretically it’s possible to get HIV when a bodily fluid comes into contact with any mucous membranes (your eyes included), medical research has yet to document a single case of HIV transmission involving semen in the eye.

To date, there have only been a couple instances of HIV transmission through the eye. The first case was the result of an occupational exposure in a hospital laboratory where a lab technician managed to get a small droplet of HIV-infected blood into his eye and did not wash with water afterwards. The second instance involved a family caregiver reporting a small blood splash to the eye while providing oral hygiene to a HIV positive patient who was not on treatment.

In both these instances, blood was the source of transmission, which compared to semen is a lot more effective at transmitting HIV. However, these cases are extremely rare. In any case, it is best to rinse your eye immediately should you manage to cop a load in your eye.

Can you get other STIs from semen in your eye?

Yes, it is possible to get both gonorrhoea and chlamydia in the eye, though it is also very rare.

Symptoms of an ocular chlamydia infection include mucous discharge from your eye, eyelid swelling, eye irritation, feeling like you have something stuck in your eye and eye redness.

Symptoms of an ocular gonorrhoea infection are similar and include mucous discharge from the eye, eye irritation and eye redness.

If you suspect you have an ocular gonorrhoea infection, seek medical attention as soon as possible as it can lead to vision loss if untreated.

You don’t need someone to cum directly into your eye to get an ocular STI infection. It can also be transmitted by a hand or finger that comes into contact with an infected body part. For this reason if you have an itchy eye during sex, take extra hygiene precautions, making sure to wash your hands before touching it to avoid any potential exposure.

Keep up your regular HIV and STI testing

Keeping up with your regular testing routine means you can spend less time worrying about HIV and STIs! It’s recommend that any sexually active guy who hooks up with other guys gets tested once every three months, which will help pick up any unidentified STIs that might be asymptomatic.

You can find a place to get tested by using our handy where to get tested tool here. We recommend calling ahead when trying to make a booking, especially during this time as COVID has meant changes to some services’ operation hours and availability.

Eye infections can be caused by several things other than STIs, so if you are ever concerned your first trip should be to your doctor. If you believe it might be STI related you can let them know and they can help rule it out.