Blotchy red rash/irritated skin on penile head (lasted for over 3 moths now)?
Posted , 410 users are following.
Part of the skin on the head of my penis has become slightly red and is causing some pain/irritation.
It first appeared the day after I used a condom so I think I must have had a reaction to the latex or some other substance in the condom.
The tip of the penis became super sensitive and noticeably hurt whenever it touched my underwear.
The skin was and still is noticeably red close to and directly around the meatus. This redness gets worse and bigger after I've come out the shower or masturbated.
An hour or so after ejaculation, I get a slight burn/irritation at the very end of the urethra when I urinate and this can last for a few days before subsiding. This has put me off from masturbating as much now.
This has lasted for about 3 months now with no signs of improvement.
I saw a doctor and was prescribed timodine/hydrocortisone cream and this didn't have much effect and am slightly worried it may just make things worse so have stopped using it for now.
It almost seems as if the redness comes from within the skin rather than on the surface.
I don't think its balanitis as I haven't had that for over 12 years when I was a kid and that was with the usual smegma discharge etc, whereas this is just redness.
I've attached images to show how it looks straight after showering, which is when the redness is at its worst and the contrast between the normal skin colour and the redness can be clearly seen.
16 likes, 1576 replies
rich90249 Jason1327
Posted
kida97987 Jason1327
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For years now I've been looking at what i might have an intolerance to, and I think it's tomatoes (small size or cherry toms)... This week I've stopped eating tomatoes and have seen a massive improvement!
I've read avocado, banana, kiwi fruit, melon, peach can also cause genital allergies... and less commonly fig, plum, chestnut, peanut, potato, papaya, and tomato.
dan19568 Jason1327
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jackie04357 dan19568
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I feel your pain mate . I have been dealing with this for a little over a year now. It first started for me after getting really sick. I should note, the rash initially started just like Jason's but has changed slightly over time. My derm seems to think it is a case of seborrhoeic dermatitis and that the illness I had caused it.
jackie04357 Jason1327
Posted
I have tried a long list of things and seen no results whatsoever. Getting over this might take 1 year or it might take 10. I'm hopeful that with the passage of enough time, the body will eventually heal itself. I'm sure we have all recovered from worse situations in the past. Make your challenges temporary and your vision permanent. Don't lose hope fellas
toby_18315 Jason1327
Edited
Hi guys.. EVERYONE PLEASE READ!! I've posted on here a fair few times and like most people, not had a lot of luck with finding resolve to my problem, I've suffered for 5 years and seen every doctor/tried every treatment. I have previously mentioned that I read about effects of gut health on skin issues and was exploring this route myself before getting side tracked. Anyway I've had mild stomach issues for many years and never really had it looked into until the end of 2017 when I had a test that suggested poor gut health, so I spent the last few months living as healthily as I could, although in hindsight not well enough. My job is stressful, particularly the last few months and I began to suffer from more serious stomach pains which led to nausea and weight loss. Still I didn't get seen to until last week when I was in serious pain and passing blood. I've been in hospital now for 4 days and had various examinations and tests. The result of it all is that I have been diagnosed with an Inflammatory Bowel Disease called Crohn's Disease, although I look very healthy on the outside my insides are not in a good way. This is an autoimmune disease that still doesn't have a cause or cure but can be managed with treatment. It is agrivated by stress and poor diet. Cut a long story short, I've never taken care of my insides and as a result of this am lying in a hospital bed. One of the positives to be taken from this is that 4 specialist doctors here have all confirmed my penis issue to be a side effect of the disease. As well as my dry/red eyes, neck and lower back pain. Things I've carried for years not knowing why. I am not saying that everyone on here has Crohn's but I have been convinced that gut health can have serious effects on areas of the body that seem so unrelated. I was shocked to see the pictures of my insides, being what I thought was fit, active and healthy. So I urge everyone on here who's serious about finding the root of their problem to put some thought into how healthy you are on the inside. It's not something that is quickly changed, it's going to take commitment and effort over time but I truly believe it's may be the answer many of us have been looking for!
jon5211984 toby_18315
Posted
Speedy recovery for you man!
That is very interesting info, but may I ask , was there an incident that you've been attributing to your penile issue? For me it is either due to an unprotected oral encounter, or using hand sanitizer on genitals to "steralize" after said encounter.... or I suppose it could be the extreme stress surrounding the event.... but it is definitely linked to a precise event one way or another
toby_18315 jon5211984
Posted
Cheers mate!
Well I've had my issues for a long time but for me I don't recall a specific encounter, rather a 5 day bender in Thailand where I went off the rails.. drank, smoked, ate even worse than usual and also got up to no good with the Thai ladies. I've always practised protected intercourse but had unprotected oral several times over the period. I was also in a bad place mentally and very stressed. I then began to notice the issue which began as a small area and over the years has slowly grown to take over most of the head of my penis. For the first few years I convinced myself it was an std and visited the clinics so many times I felt stupid when they said there was nothing wrong. I've had every test possible, numerous times. Since then I had made it my mission to find the answer and it has consumed so much of my time, becoming a major issue in my life. I've seen the best penile dermo specialist in the uk amongst others and none of them could help. The subdermo irratation and redness in hindsight does seems to suggest an internal issue to me. After seeing the pictures of my insides, there are a lot of similarities between the inflammation in my gut and on my penis. Plus the fact that I've tried every cream/pill/powder available with no improvement, also suggests the root of the course to be somewhere deeper in the system.
I'm not saying this is the issue for everyone one here but if, like me you feel you've exhausted all the obvious diagnosis and treatments then this is another way to look at things which certainly for me is easily over looked and doesn't logically seem to fit.
Maybe it's possible that a certain event could trigger a flare up, because the internal system is already out of shape and like a ticking time bomb?
I don't have all the answers I'm afraid but wanted to share my experiences regardless. Hopefully it will be of use to some of you!
jtheige toby_18315
Posted
Toby,
You are echoing my same theory although I haven't been suffering with this as long (about a year on the 2nd bout). The first round lasted about three months. I am a 41 now, the first round happened right after my 38th birthday and this second round came about right after the 40th. I too have arrived at gut health being the culprit, with a immune system issue being the underlying root cause. The older we get the less active our immune systems become.
Have you had a Hydrogen Breath Test with Lactulose? That is what my internist recommended after some abdominal pains and it turns out I have SIBO.
I have an overgrowth of both the Hydrogen and methane causing bacteria in my small intestine. After two weeks of gut specific antibiotics (Xifaxan and Neomycin) I immediately began to see great improvement on all my skin issues, especially my penis. My gut health isn't fully resolved though and today I just went through a colonoscopy and endoscopy. The results of which will relatively good (just one polyp, not likely cancerous that is being biopsied to confirm).
My Gastroenterologist believes the SIBO is not yet resolved and lo and behold, my skin issues are creeping back slowly as the bacteria begin to come back again. Not as bad as originally but still somewhat debilitating. Both my internist (who is my GP) and my dermatologist are in agreement with him (it helps to have docs that confer with each other for sure)
It turns out SIBO sometimes takes a second round of antibiotics . Therefore, after I do an abdomen and pelvic CT Scan on 4/30 to confirm we aren't missing anything else, I will likely will do a second breath test and an additional round of antibiotics.
My point here is three-fold: 1) I personally believe gut health is the root cause for many of us, you and I are proof. 2) You may benefit from testing for SIBO as it has been found as a possible cause for many autoimmune issues that develop with no apparent other causes, including Cron's disease. 3) I believe immunity issues begin and end in the gut and skin issues are our bodies first way of lettiing us know when there is an unresolved issue therein.
It is discussions like these that will go a long way for a permanent solution. The more we chime in and update, the faster will get results that benefit us all.
Good luck to you and please keep updating. I'll do the same.
Pauly77 toby_18315
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toby_18315 Pauly77
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No never mate, as I said it's pretty clear to me after years of testing i don't have any infections. IBD is irritation and inflammation of your gut system, not so much an infection.
Guest Jason1327
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Any answer please update....
j17396 Guest
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jozko28477 Jason1327
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jon5211984 jozko28477
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jozko28477 jon5211984
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jon5211984 jozko28477
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You have to do a PCR DNA test of your semen or prostate fluid... there are only certain labs that do it. I'm in pursuit of it right now
jozko28477 jon5211984
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Ok,i´ve been tested in PCR tests for mycoplasma species and result is like all others -Negative. So im lost again