Blotchy red rash/irritated skin on penile head (lasted for over 3 moths now)?

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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.

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  • Posted

    I've had this on and off for 3 months now, Dr has done a test today but thinks it could be herpes, I'm very worried about this as it was the last thing i expected.

    imageimageimage

  • Edited

    Hi all, I would like to share some useful tips. My STD test was also negative, antifungal cream was useless because you don't want to treat this on the level of symptoms as our great medical industry usually does, but on the level of cause. According to me the cause lies in your intestines and it is an overgrowth of yeast, so what i recomend to do... definitely stay away from alcohol and sugar, nofap is welcome so that u dont worsen it. Start eating raw vegetables, nuts and cook some lentils instead of meat, coconut milk instead casual milk. I have noticed getting better when also eating onions and garlic (which is natural antibiotic and antifungal) a day and drinking sauerkraut juice and also sauerkraut alone. This way you gonna make it starve and die and kill that sh*t once for all, just stick to tons of vegetables for at least two weeks and keep eating that onion and garlic on daily basis for month.

    Let thy food be thy medicine!

    i believe there is also an option of medicine from Tibet .

  • Edited

    i have the same redness within. mine was balanitus and had open blister on head which healed fine with Emuaid, a fungal cream and antibiotic. but the red head stayed so far. im cut too but being diabetic im told pee can get on the head and with sugar in the urine it is conducive to balanitus posted pics on my original post

  • Edited

    I have this same issue. It'll be 2 years in july since symptoms started I believe due to unprotected sex, but tested clean so i dont know the exact cause. Ive been prescribed anti fungal cream which did nothing and my primary nods it off as nothing that serious. I think it may be the soap im using in the shower, I use dove mens body wash gel soap and i need to phase away from that so my next experiment is the Dr. Squatch soap the ones that claim they hydrate your skin, im going to try the aloe bar soap and see if that does me any good. Ive noticed that if I wear boxer briefs itll subside the redness temporarily but end up flaring back up. Im so happy i found this thread though because this is the first time seeing anything online about this. It has been driving me insane and its depressing really, also a huge confidence drag. I will keep posted if this new soap works because its a mix of redness throughout the day and the skin will also get crackly dry.

    • Posted

      eczema creams for me made it worst

    • Posted

      Joeshmo you mentioned your sex partner got tested. Wondering if it was HPV testing as well as there seems to be a camp of people that believe this to be the issue. It does make sense as to why men are coming up clean on an STD panel as it something that isnt tested for in men.

    • Posted

      You think I should get tested for that? I'll do anything to see it go back to normal color

    • Posted

      Woooooah it might be that, just did a quick google search and it talks about warts. I have a ton of what seems to be warts on my chest area and one on my wrist. Doctor told me "Since theyve been there so long its clearly not a problem"

    • Posted

      I think it could have something to do with it but I'm not a medical doctor or anything. You would think that doctors would be more onto it as it could very well be a high risk strain of hpv which seems to be subclinical but there is evidence it can cause persistence balantitis. I've been to a regular GP, sexual health clinics and a dermatologist. The GP said it was normal, the sexual health clinic said it seemed like a bit of dermititis. I mentioned and asked about high risk HPV, to which she pretty much said no and that there's no test for guys. I said I was concerned about spreading it to new partners. Which she said to stop worrying as I have nothing to worry about. The dermatologist prescribed steroid cream, which I have been reluctant to use as it is an immune surpressor. She said it looked like inflammation. Which if it was HPV would make it harder to clear as the immune is the only defence against it. That would also make sense why people here say that the steroid cream makes it worse, or helps while using but then it comes back.

    • Posted

      If you are still having issues, you might try the cream. A lot of these type issues are often caused by autoimmune issues, so using the immune suppressor might actually work for you. Listen to your Dr and if it doesn't work, no worries, but I would try it. The Dr. obviously thinks there is a chance your issue is autoimmune related or they wouldn't have given you the cream. Eczema and rosacea both are autoimmune and they both occur at times on the penis.

    • Posted

      Hey,

      Still have issues and still yet to use the cream. If its something that isnt contagious, I can deal with that. However if it is viral Id much prefer to give my immune system the best chance of fighting it early as that seems to be the only hope for clearance when it comes to HPV. The doctor didnt spend much time examining me either. Mind you mine is bad an hour or two after masturbation then it dissapates to something that could be overlooked. So my guess is the dermatologist and doctors were just spitballing.

      Im going to book an appointment with my derm and mention HPV before inspection and voice these concerns with her.

      Im at my wits end with this and I hope I get some idea on whats going on. The mental anguish is taking its toll.

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