UTIs — urinary tract infections — are really unpleasant, fairly common, and completely curable. But if you think you have a UTI, you need to see a health care provider about it as soon as possible. If left untreated, a UTI can cause a kidney infection, which can be way more serious. Your health care provider will test a sample of your urine to see if you have a UTI, and if you do, she or he will prescribe antibiotics. You can also take an over-the-counter pain reliever like Uristat to deal with the discomfort of a UTI, but those drugs will only help relieve painful symptoms and won’t help cure the infection. You can get a test or treatment for a UTI at your local Planned Parenthood health center, many other clinics, and private health care providers.

Nope! And being a virgin — someone who hasn’t had sex — isn’t a bad thing, either!

Something that actually can be a bad thing, though, is having sex before you’re ready. Sex can have big physical and emotional consequences, so having sex, especially for the first time, is a big decision. Sometimes — and especially in high school — it can feel like everybody around you is having sex. But the facts about sex might surprise you. The average age people start having sex is 17. About seven in 10 people have had sex by age 19.

Different people have lots of different ideas about what being a “virgin” means. Most people would say that a virgin is someone who’s never had sex, but “sex” might mean vaginal sex, anal sex, oral sex, all of the above, or something else.

Learn more about figuring out when you’re ready for sex.

Implanon is a brand name for the birth control implant. It’s also available under the brand name Nexplanon. The birth control implant is the most effective method of birth control — except for abstinence. Only five out of 10,000 women who use the implant for a year get pregnant. And it works for three years!

The implant works by releasing the hormone progestin into your body. Progestin prevents pregnancy by keeping your ovaries from releasing eggs  — ovulation. Pregnancy can’t happen if there’s no egg to join with sperm. Progestin also thickens the mucus in your cervix, which blocks sperm.

For most women who use the implant, periods become fewer and lighter. Some women worry that they’re pregnant if they don’t have a regular period, but this is a common and normal side effect of the implant. The implant is probably not a good birth control method for women who would worry about missing their periods.

Learn more about the birth control implant, Implanon or Nexplanon.

Okay, so we think there are a couple of different things this could mean, and we’re going to try to answer all of them.

If you’re talking about the possibility of the guy’s semen leaking out from around the base of the condom:

If you’re using a condom correctly, semen shouldn’t be leaking out from the base. A guy should pull out after ejaculating — while he’s still erect – to keep this from happening. Not sure if you’re using a condom correctly? Here’s a little refresher course:

If you’re talking about about skin-to-skin contact that happens even when you’re using a condom:

Condoms work by covering the penis during sex to prevent semen from entering the vagina. But even when you’re using a condom, there can be some skin-to-skin contact during sex. And that means there’s a chance that certain STDs — STDs that are spread through skin-to-skin contact — can still be transmitted during sex with a condom. This isn’t because any stuff — like semen or other bodily fluids — are leaking out from around the sides of the condom. It’s just because the condom only covers the penis, not the whole area around the penis or vulva.

But before you get really freaked out about giving or getting an STD even when you’re using a condom, keep in mind that you have some additional ways to protect yourself and your partner. Here are some STDs that can be spread through skin-to-skin contact (i.e., during sex, even with a condom) and some extra precautions you can take to stay safe.

• Human Papillomavirus (HPV): Getting the HPV vaccine is one way to prevent HPV infection. The vaccine can protect women against two of the HPV types that cause 70 percent of all cases of cervical cancer.  The HPV vaccine can also help prevent genital warts, another STD that can be spread through skin-to-skin contact. And even though condoms aren’t as effective against HPV or genital warts as they are against other infections, they can still greatly reduce your risk.
• Herpes: If you or your partner have genital herpes, use a condom between outbreaks to reduce the risk of transmission. You should also stop having any sexual contact (even sex with a condom) as soon as you feel warning signs of an outbreak (like burning or itching). Herpes treatments can also help reduce the risk of transmission.
• Pubic lice (crabs): Pubic lice are really easily spread and they like to hang out in pubic hair, so condoms won’t offer protection against them. If you or your partner has pubic lice, don’t have sex until treatment is complete.

Some people worry about HIV spreading through skin-to-skin contact. HIV is transmitted in blood, semen, vaginal fluids, and breast milk. HIV can be spread if HIV-infected blood, semen, or vaginal secretions get into an open wound or sore, but it’s not transmitted through simple skin-to-skin contact. When used correctly, condoms are really effective at preventing HIV. You can learn more about HIV and how it’s spread here.

So condoms aren’t perfect, and they can’t protect against everything all the time. But don’t throw your condoms away! Using a condom drastically reduces your risk of many different kinds of infections — not to mention your risk of pregnancy, too.

The chances of getting an STD from unprotected sex that only lasts for one second are really low … but it may be possible. Certain infections are passed by skin-to-skin contact. We always warn people that brief contact is all that’s needed — but one second is really VERY brief! The risk of getting an infection would be higher if ejaculation happened or pre-cum or vaginal secretions were passed between partners during that one second of contact.

If you’re worried you might have an STD, the best thing you can do is get yourself tested. Contact your local Planned Parenthood health center to set up an appointment. When you get tested, you’ll be able to talk to a health care provider about exactly what happened — like, for example, if you had sex without a condom for one second — and they can help figure out what tests are right for you.

It sounds like you and your boyfriend are using the pull out method — also known as withdrawal. Withdrawal can prevent pregnancy by keeping semen out of the vagina. Like all birth control methods, withdrawal is most effective at preventing pregnancy when you use it correctly. But withdrawal can be a lot harder to use correctly than some other birth control methods, especially for teenagers.

There’s nothing wrong with being sexually inexperienced — everybody is sexually experienced at one point — but it can make it hard to totally understand how your body works during sex. And for guys, that can mean it’s hard to know exactly when they’ve reached the point where ejaculation can’t be stopped or postponed. This is one reason why so many girls get pregnant from guys not pulling out in time.

Condomsmight be a good alternative for you and your boyfriend. Condoms are widely available and inexpensive — some health centers even give them away for free. And, unlike withdrawal, they can also help prevent STDs.

Yes, it’s possible. Genital warts are spread by skin-to-skin contact, usually during sexual activity, and they can be spread even when no warts are visible. Genital warts usually take six weeks to six months after infection to develop. But they can take longer. Warts often go away by themselves. Sometimes treatment is needed to get rid of them. For some people (especially cigarette smokers), the warts may come back several months after treatment. And for some people, the warts continue to return, even after long periods of time.

One of the HPV vaccines  — Gardasil —   protects against the two types of HPV that cause 90 percent of all cases of genital warts as well as cancers of the cervix, vulva, vagina, penis, anus, and throat.

Click here to learn more about genital warts.

Tracking ovulation  — the release of an egg — in order to prevent pregnancy is also known as a fertility awareness-based method (FAM) of birth control. FAMs are one of the oldest methods of birth control in the world. They work by keeping sperm out of the vagina in the days near ovulation, when a woman is most likely to become pregnant. To prevent pregnancy, women can abstain from vaginal sex or use an alternative method of birth control — like a condom or a sponge — on these days.

Twenty-four out of 100 couples who use FAMs each year will become pregnant if they don’t always use this method correctly or consistently. Like all birth control methods, FAMs are more effective when you use them correctly. But unlike many other birth control methods, FAMs can be tricky to always use correctly, especially for teens. That’s because teens’ menstrual cycles are more likely to be irregular than those of older women. The effectiveness of FAMs depends on how accurately you can predict ovulation, and this can be really hard to do.

You can learn more about FAMs here. You might also want to check out our MyMethod widget to help find a birth control method that works for you.

The clitoris is the pleasure center of the vulva. It doesn’t have a central role in reproduction like the penis or vagina — it’s pretty much just there to feel good! The clitoris is right under the point where the inner labia meet and form a little hood (known as the clitoral hood, in fact). The head, or glans, of the clitoris may vary in size, but only the tip of the clitoris can be seen at the top of the vulva, under the clitoral hood. Fun fact about the clitoris: the rest of its spongy shaft divides into two “legs” that reach more than five inches inside the body!

You can find a diagram of the vulva — including the clitoris and the clitoral hood —here.

Pregnancy tests become more accurate as you get closer to the date of your expected period, and they’re most effective once you have already missed your period. Some tests also work a few days before a missed period — you can read the label on the pregnancy test box to see when that test may become effective. If you think you might be pregnant, it’s a good idea to wait until your period is already late to take a pregnancy test. Click here to learn more about taking a pregnancy test.