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
berk20058 Jason1327
Posted
Guest Jason1327
Posted
Hi Guys!
First - I'm so glad I found this threat, I've been sh*tting myself for months. Here's my experience.
About 2 years ago I got jock itch - nothing mental but ittitating. Tried the daktacort which didn't really help so went on oral anti-fungals (can't remember which) but sorted it. Since then, multiple issues that just won't go away!
Right now I'm dealing with redness on glans and foreskin, the vertical wrinkles that most of the pics I'm seeing have. All seems identical symptoms. Went to the GUM clinic- more daktacort. This made it 1000x worse. Skin on fire, itching horribly, was a nightmare. Went back for routine screening and all is negative, but was told it's probably dermatitis. My glans seems to have stopped producing natural lubrication and gets irritated even by touch.
Since then, have dropped all scented products (started using non-bio laundry detergent), washing with Sanex 0%, and using unscented hypoallergenic sensitive skin moisturiser multiple times a day (UK guys nip to Superdrug/boots, there's loads) This seems to be keeping the symptoms at bay (1 week) but clearly isn't solving the issue. I have another full screening booked for Tuesday (3 days time) and will bring it up with them again and ask for referrals to dermatologist and urologist, as well as as many bacterial/viral/fungal/allergy tests as they can arrange.
The moment I stop using moisturiser I'm back to square one. This is causing so much anxiety/stress/depression I'm considering asking for something.
I'm married (gay) and although we do have the occasional 3way (and I do the taking not the giving) we've both never caught anything. Always play safe (I'm doubling up on condoms with Prep, I refuse to get HIV!) but these last few years it's just been one issue after the other and it's killing me (not literally but you get the idea)
Let me know if you have any other suggestions :-)
DryBee Jason1327
Posted
Hey Guys.
This thread has been extremely interesting for me as I have been living this hell for the past 6 months and I am yet to find a solution, I've seen Dr's from GUM, GPs and Dermatologists who have all unable to provide a solution.
I am 22 years old and uncircumcised and this started in February after a week of camping, I had been very bad with hygiene/health during this week (lots of swimming and no showering till the next morning and also lots of beer!)
I have tried steroid creams, thrush creams and also flucanazole x 150mg to no avail.
My symptoms are a red rash on my glans that seems to get worse after the penis gets wet, (if that's from precum, semen, urine or water) it also occasionally causes redness at the tip of my foreskin and under the glans, minor irritation and strange numbness sensations. After sex or masturbation my symptoms seem to get worse for 2-3 days.
At the time of me acquiring this I was seeing my girlfriend for 3 years and we have broken up now but remained on good terms, she works in an STD clinic and said that she got tested after we broke up and was negative for all STDs, she also said she's never experienced HSV symptoms or HPV symptoms and I have no reason to believe she is lying.
I haven't been tested for herpes because I am pretty sure I have HSV-1 orally already and I don't think the symptoms last for 6 months and don't want this to get confused with it.
I do have health anxiety and constantly monitor my penis for changes and I am pretty sure this has a lot to do with it as mentioned previously on the post, I am scared that I will transfer this to someone else even though the Drs have said I have not got an STD. I am having counselling for this shortly and will post an update to see if the therapy helps me.
I have found that when I don't think about it, it isn't a problem, it's just when I think about it late at night that I notice the symptoms.
bman43059 DryBee
Posted
I hear what you’re saying man I’ve had a lot of the same symptoms. My problems were actually internal in terms of digestion issues actually aggravating my prostate. When all of that is aggravated down there it can cause the urethra to swell and you see that redness on the tip. Just a suggestion try maybe seeing a doctor for digestion problems or even a natural care doc (one that prescribes supplements, vitamins, diets etc - that’s what has helped me.)
Mayhem77789 bman43059
Posted
Irritation does varry with the food I eat I think it’s also digestive I actually think it’s leaky gut at least for my situation
dan19568 DryBee
Posted
CanadianMale81 dan19568
Posted
Yep, I mentioned this in one of my earlier posts while I was trying to figure what was wrong with me. "Prudendal neuralgia" usually has a cause though, like you're saying either viral or bacterial or physical trauma to the area.... In my case, I eventually found out I had a bacterial infection (Lyme/morgellons related) or some unknown infective cause.... in my case, it moved around, infected my prostate for a while and I'm sure all the pelvic nerves and lymphnodes, as that is where they like to hang out (nerves, lymphnodes, collagen).... anyway, I found if I massaged all the skin, lymphnodes, muscles in the pelvic area, it helped to ease the pain. Also, pelvic exercises helped. I just did this because it felt good....after researching for four months, little did I know what I was actually doing was freeing up the lymph nodes and promoting blood flow so the immune system could come in and deal with the bacteria AND the lymph nodes could drain and detox....
dan19568 CanadianMale81
Posted
DryBee CanadianMale81
Posted
Interestingly enough 3 months or so before this all started I had to visit the Drs due to constant urination and feeling like I had urine stuck in my urethra, I was back and forward between the toilet every 5 minutes.
While that seemed to clear up without any medical intervention I am now stuck with this crap!
CanadianMale81 dan19568
Posted
For anyone who wants the full recount of my story, start from page 22. Anyway. I finally expressed symptoms of Morgellons--->Morgellons is skin infection of unknown cause but most likely caused by some form of bacteria, either spirochetal (borrelia burgdorferi) or bartonella... some think it might be mold/spore related also. And many other conspiracy theories out there. Very strange syndrome...
Anyway...within the first two weeks, after the first round of antibiotics the doctor prescribed, the main symptoms, pain on top of glans, buzzing, numbness, urethritis slowly diminished but not 100%, brought me to 75%. I then had a flare up on the glans after treating it with topicals and It then moved around, into prostate, then eventually settled on scrotum and in bladder... for the next few months I treated with good diet, rest, excercise, supplements and herbals..but it just base lined @ 85%.....I couldn't fully heal like you're supposed to, it is just too tough an organism. I continued with a low level infection in bladder, scrotum and surrounding muscles and tissue. (if you research about lyme disease and it's co-infections (related to Morgellons) it's a really tough bacteria to beat. Many times you have to take multiple antibiotics at once. Anyway, I gave-in a few weeks ago to get some more antibiotics...I got Bactrim DS which is a go to Abx for skin infections. Within 2 days I was 98% and I'm still there....just hope it lasts after I finish..
If you have dysuria, any bladder pain, irritation. If you feel irritable etc. anything like that, it just screams infection, I would try a round of antibiotics and see what happens.
C56026 CanadianMale81
Posted
Hi my symptoms were similar except I have abdominal pain and I feel like my urine has acidity that causes the glans to.flare up. So this cannot be easily healed due to this. I think if I can get the stomach inflammation down that would make the urine less acidic which will help to handle the scenario
Dermatologist recommend Elecon and it seems to help. I am uncircumcised and my foreskin doesn't retract all the way down. Do you think antibiotics will help me . Urologist ruled me out saying there is more issues after ultrasound, CT scan. Should I see a gastro?
C56026 Jason1327
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CanadianMale81 C56026
Posted
I think topicals are just band-aid solutions in most cases, they treat the problem but don't solve it. Really tough to say what it is in your case, you'd have to get extensive testing/biopsies (for bacteria, mold slime, fungus etc.,) and the problem with that is it's SOOO time consuming and you usually have to have some form of direction of what you want to test, there is SOO much stuff you can test for, the labs are all specialized so you could spend years trying to figure it out...
In my case, I was sort of lucky (term used loosely) because I expressed as Morgellons ---> and although the cause of that syndrome is still pretty much unknown... there has been some research that shows it's related to Lyme disease or bartonella or some type of bacterial infection... so we're talking about bacterial pathogens. That's really all I need to know. I've been treating it as such so far. To cover my bases I've been treating for parasites/fungus and mold also...
You keep mentioning digestion...yes, digestion and digestive bacteria flora play a HUGE role in any condition. They say 75% of immunity comes from colon and digestive health so for sure that plays a role...but is it the #1 cause...that you need to figure out..
So far, I've ruled out any gut issues for me, as I've had ZERO gut issues so far.... my stomach did blow up in 2014-2015, for some unknown reason (think it was from bacteria from the $hit mayonnaise they use at subway) but I rebuilt it and it's been rock solid every since...
C56026 CanadianMale81
Posted
Yes you are right. My gut issues seems to settle now with probiotics. However I still have some unpleasant smell in my urine. Did you guys have that ? I think my infection is still there but they just can't find as you said which one it is. So why not get some kind of antibiotic that will get rid of bacteria then I am back to square one with gut. I don't care about gut as long g as this is healed. This is driving me insane.
Guest Jason1327
Posted
Hi Guys,
So went to GUM clinic again today for routine screening. They've taken swabs/blood/urine looking specifically at the area of my rash. I'll update you when I get the results in.
In the meantime, still using hypoallergenic moisturiser, non-biological laundry detergent and have been able to introduce different shower gels with no issues. Definitely using moisturiser less so I feel it's getting better. What i found is that the skin was damaged and needed time to heal - but it wasn't getting any time with foreskin movement/peeing etc. Buckets of skin friendly emmolients and moistureiser later its healing (I hope!)
Will update with further developments :-)