Question
Do I need PEP if I was late with a PrEP dose?
8 March 2023. Related: Adherence, All topics, PrEP.
Hi I would like to ask for help because I was 5 hours 30 minutes late on my third dose on my 2+1+1 dosing.
I had protected sex with a woman and I fear that there may be vaginal fluids that entered through the base of the condom or fluids that made contact with the tip of my penis when I took the condom out.
Here are the times I took the pills:
2 pills — March 6 , 1:53 AM
SEX. — March 6 , 9PM- 1AM
1 pill — March 7 , 2:34 AM
1 pill — March 8 , 8:04 AM
Please help me with this. Should I take PEP? Should I continue taking PrEP? Thank you.
Answer
Hi there
Thanks – please don’t worry about this.
The two drugs in oral PrEP reach higher levels than you probably need. This means that you will still be covered, even if you are late with one of the doses.
As PrEP can also be taken as a daily pill, you could also taken an additional day if you are using 2:1:1 dosing. If you are very worried, you could extend the dosing by an extra day – ie 2:1:1:1 – but this isn’t really needed.
If you used a condom, then this will have protected you too.
This online guide to PrEP has lots more info.
https://i-base.info/guides/prep
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