What Are Condoms?
What are condoms
A condom is a thin, fitted tube worn over the penis during sex (male condoms) or inserted into the vagina before sex (female condoms). Condoms can help prevent pregnancies and STDs. They create a barrier that keeps semen and other body fluids out of the vagina, rectum, or mouth. You might hear a condom called a rubber or the barrier method.
Don’t use male and female condoms at the same time. One can stick to the other and pull it out of place or tear it.
Condom Effectiveness
How well a condom works depends a lot on whether you use it the right way.
When used properly, male condoms are about 98% effective at preventing pregnancy. This means that in one year, 2 out of every 100 women whose partners always use condoms correctly will get pregnant. That number rises to 18 out of every 100 women whose partners don’t use the condom correctly every time.
Female condoms are about 95% effective when used properly. They work only 79% of the time if you don’t use them right.
Condoms also greatly lower the chances that one person will pass an STD to the other. The exact risk varies by the type of disease. For example, condoms are almost 100% effective at protecting against HIV. But HPV, the most common sexually transmitted disease, can infect areas that a male condom doesn’t cover, like the scrotum. Condoms lower the risk of HPV infection, but they don’t get rid of it.
Types of Condoms
There are many types of male condoms, including:
Latex, plastic, or lambskin. Most people use condoms made of latex. If you’re sensitive or allergic to that material, you can use ones made of plastic: polyurethane or polyisoprene. Latex and plastic condoms can protect you from STDs during any kind of sex: vaginal, oral, and anal. Natural or lambskin condoms are made of material that comes from lamb intestines. They prevent pregnancy, but like human skin, they have tiny openings. So they don’t protect you from STDs.
Lubricated. Lubrication, or lube, is a thin coating of liquid on the condom. It can prevent pain and irritation during sex, and it can help keep the condom from breaking. If you buy one that doesn’t already have lube on it, you’ll probably want to add some lube to make sex more comfortable. Make sure you use a water-based product that’s meant for sex. Oil-based lubricants like petroleum jelly can damage the condom and keep it from working.
Spermicide-coated. This is a chemical, called nonoxynol-9, that kills sperm. Some condoms are sold coated with it. This may lower the risk of pregnancy, but the amount of spermicide that comes with a condom probably isn’t enough to make a difference. If you want extra protection, add a separate sperm-killing product. Nonoxynol-9 can irritate your genitals, which could make you more likely to get HIV.
Textured condoms. These include ribbed and studded types. They’re meant to boost the pleasure for you or your partner. But how it makes you feel could be different from what someone else enjoys. If a condom keeps you or your partner from enjoying sex, try textured ones to see if they feel better. You can also make putting on the condom part of foreplay.
You might also find glow-in-the-dark or other novelty condoms.
ARTICLE SOURCES:
Teens Health: “Condoms.”
Columbia University: “Five kinds of condoms: A guide for consumers.”
Virginia Tech: “Condoms and spermicides.”
World Health Organization: “Nonoxynol-9 ineffective in preventing HIV infection.”
Columbia University: “Do textured condoms heighten sexual pleasure?”
