Starting hep c treatment and I have a question about body piercings.

[whitelotus51]

Hello, everyone. Hope everyone is doing well. I am going to be starting hep c treatment soon and recently got a few new body piercings (about 2 weeks ago). They are nowhere near healed (can take a couple months), and some are still bleeding a bit when cleaning them which is completely normal. I had let my gastro doc know about the piercings because of the possible reinfection while on treatment thing, and he was saying it would be an extremely low possibility to reinfect myself with the blood on the piercings while on hep c treatment but said to sterilize the jewelry if i can. He said to use boiling water but I hear boiling water is not effective to sterilize. He said to do it on day 7 while on the treatment pill. Not sure why 7 is a magic number, but basically I am just trying to find out if I am being paranoid. Is there seriously any chance of me reinfecting myself with my own virus if old/new blood is on my body jewelry while taking the hep c medication?? Like I said, the piercings still do have dried blood and even new blood on them sometimes, so I am just not sure what to do. Also, do I throw my out tooth brush, nail clippers. etc? Thank you so much.

[Lynn K]

I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Just do what you would normally do to care for your piercings if you didn’t have hep c.

Some people here did change tooth brushes several times on treatment etc.. I did no special measures I still have the same fingernail clippers and only changed my tooth brush at a normal schedule.

Good luck on treatment

[whitelotus51]

Thank you, Lynn. You really don't think it will be an issue? Funny thing is, the doctor didn't even mention anything about possible reinfection. It was me who brought the subject up to HIM! If I hadn't brought anything up, nothing would've been mentioned so I guess it isn't standard or a concern that doctors have? I have family members who got on treatment as well, and their doctors didn't mention anything either to change toothbrush, nail clippers, etc). You cannot reinfect yourself with your own blood? It would have to be someone else's blood going into my bloodstream? I guess I am still just a bit paranoid about the old blood i MIGHT have on my jewelry as my new piercings are going to stay in while I'm on treatment (they are only 2 weeks old and still healing like I previously mentioned). Would hep c virus last a long time on dried blood on jewelry? Not much info about this on the internet.

[Lynn K]

No it is not a concern in the medical profession. This hasn’t occurred. There is no info because this isn’t a thing.

As far as someone else’s blood while you are on treatment the meds would kill that too

[Lynn K]

While the hep c virus can survive for a while if left undisturbed once you are not detected you have very little to no virus circulating in your blood stream. That would be like worrying the blood inside your body reinfecting you because it has a small amount of virus.

The CDC does advise against sharing of toothbrushes, razors, and fingernail with others if you have hep c but that is out of an abundance of caution as the risk is relatively low. Why run that small risk of infecting your friends and loved ones.

[whitelotus51]

Thank you, Lynn.

Anyone else want to weigh in as well?

[andrew j]

The main thing is - you haven't started Tx yet - so as long as you're reasonably careful from now on ...

I used to dunk my razor in bleach - and sometimes in disinfectant, while I was on Tx.
I didn't really bother about my toothbrush much, though.

When you think about it - your body'll be recycling medication-infused blood all the time - killing off any virus it encounters.
 
We all worry about these things - but in reality, as Lynn says - the risks are extremely low.
If you think about what you're doing, and are reasonably careful - you'll be as safe as houses.

Best wishes,

A.

[whitelotus51]

Thank you andrew j.