Manual penetration of the vagina and anus can be risky if a partner's fingers or hand have sores or open cuts. If you're concerned about this, use latex gloves, condoms, or finger cots. If you use sex toys, wash them in hot, soapy water or with a bleach solution before sharing, or use fresh condoms on them for each partner. For example, clean any piercing needles with bleach before using them on someone else. If you shave one another, use a separate razor for each partner.
Some partners like to get tested together, just in case.
This can help to ease your minds and may even increase your sense of connectedness, too. For more detailed information, see Herpes info for lesbians and Genital warts in Alice's Sexual Health archive. It can often be helpful, too, to think broadly about safer sex between women. Yeast and infections such as bacterial vaginosis can be transmitted between women, and you can use the pointers above to prevent this. Also, rimming, or oral pleasuring of the anus, brings risks of hepatitis A and gastrointestinal problems.