National Condom Week: Rapid-Fire Answers To Your Questions

Between February 13th to the 21st is National Condom Week, an annual public health awareness campaign focused on promoting safe sex and protecting people from STIs through condoms. Within this week, we at TeenSource want to provide you with as much information as possible about this topic, with some common quick-fire questions that many want to know the answer to. 
 

1. What are the pros and considerations of long term use of condoms?

Pros

• For those who are sexually-active, condoms are able to protect against sexually-transmitted infections, or STIs.
• Furthermore, condoms also allow a person to be sexually-active without the fear of an unintended pregnancy. Condoms are effective at preventing pregnancy.
• Condoms usually do not fail in their intended purpose, making sure you are not using condoms incorrectly can help make them more effective. Incorrect uses can include putting on a condom in the middle of intercourse, taking it off before intercourse is over, and using oil-based lube with latex condoms.

Considerations

• Compared to other forms of birth control, like IUDs or the pill, condoms don't prevent unintended pregnancies as well. However, condoms are easy to access for those under 18, allowing some prevention methods.
• Some STIs, like herpes and syphilis, can be spread through skin-to-skin contact and because condoms do not cover all skin that could touch, condoms may not fully protect against these STIs.

2. How can you tell if a condom is expired?

Condom packaging usually has an expiration date listed. Other ways you can tell you should not use a condom is if the package is damaged or if there is not an air bubble in the package. Expired condoms may be drier and weaker, meaning the chance of breakage is more prevalent with expired condoms. 

3. Where should I store condoms?

Store your condoms in a stable room temperature to ensure its material does not become brittle or melted. This means not keeping it somewhere like a car or in the sun that can get very hot.

4. Are there any side effects or health risks that come with the usage of condoms?

There are no effects that come alongside with condoms, but there are factors that one should consider when using a condom. Some may be allergic to latex, a common ingredient of condoms. Some may get a rash, hives, or even a runny nose if they are allergic to latex. In this case, a couple may want to opt out of traditional latex condoms and get polyurethane condoms instead that does not contain latex.

5. Where do I get condoms?

On the TeenSource website, under the “Get Care” tab, you can either hover over the tab or click on it to find an orange link that states “Get Free Condoms.” From there, you can enter your City, Zip Code, and Date of Birth. Inserting this information will take you to a map that displays all the nearest clinics you can get condoms, no questions asked.

This week, we encourage everyone to stay aware of their own sexual health, by raising awareness on condoms. As we at TeenSource celebrate every year, we hope that with every week passing, more and more people see condoms as a way for safety and self-care.