TOPIC:

I was curious about any cases where relapse was attributed to items like a tooth brush where the patient has inflamed and bleeding gums or straight edge razors (or other non disposable razor types) , etc. Has there been any confirmed cases of this where blood contamination on the instrument kept re-introducing the virus into the system eventually causing a relapse once the meds were stopped.

During my tx I shot out anything that may have been contaminated with my blood prior to treatment and used a disposable toothbrush/razor , using a new toothbrush every week until the end of treatment. Once the treatment was finish I put a new head on the sonic care and left my straight edge submersed in Cavacide for 24 hours before reusing it at the EOT. Hep C has a rather long shelf life outside the body and I can see this as being a way to re-infect yourself.

Question -

During treatment, should I be changing out my toothbrushes & razor?

thanks

Hi lifepivoting,

during treatment I used disposable razors and cheap toothbrushes as much as I could.

Bleach and water for the toothbrushes and changing them after a few days, and daily change of razor for quite a few weeks. Backed off a bit later on to just bleaching toothbrushes and every second day ditching the razor.

Figured it was cheap enough to put the mind at rest.

Used the cheapest toothbrushes and razors I could find as well. They were that crappy you would want to change them anyway!

In the big scheme of things, a few extra dollars over the week - not much more then a good cup of coffee though. At worst a few minor lacerations to the face, and a very weird taste in the mouth is my main memory of that time.

All the best,

Jeff

Hep C can lve outside the body for 6 weeks.

It’s probable that at the start of treatment both your razor and toothbrush are infectious. Changing them a couple of times early on is sensible but mos peopke are undetected at 4 weeks so after that...