Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Results
By Mayo Clinic staffCondoms are an effective form of birth control. However, about 1 in 50 couples who use condoms correctly will get pregnant in a year. Chances of pregnancy increase if you don't always wear a condom during intercourse, or you use condoms incorrectly.
Although there is still some risk for getting or transmitting STDs, condoms are very effective at preventing the transmission of most STDs. When used correctly, a condom creates a barrier that limits your exposure — and your partner's exposure — to semen or other body fluids that can carry STDs.
- Warner L, et al. Male condoms. In: Hatcher RA, et al. Contraceptive Technology. 19th ed. New York, N.Y.: Ardent Media; 2007:297.
- Flannagan J. Promoting sexual health: Practical guidelines on male condom use. Nursing standard. 2008;21:67.
