Penile Glands Rash
Posted , 4 users are following.
Hi all,
On return from holiday November time I noticed some red blotching on my penile glands of which my girlfriend mentioned she was suffering with itching with her vagina. We both suspected thrush of which we both went and bought the oral tablet and cream. My girlfriends cleared up but mine persisted.
A few weeks later I made an appointment at the doctors to which I was prescribe a 1% fungal cream, which I used and the issue still remained. I was then prescribed a 2% fungal cream which had no effect. I returned to the doctors and my doctor gave me a weeks course of oral fungal tablets to which it had no effect. I returned to the doctors again was told leave it for a week it will heal up, two days later it got worst! The rash is now pretty much all round the base of the penile glands and my testicles now itch.
I booked intro see a dermatologist which I was told I had mild Balanitis and was prescribed a ointment called protopic and was told to use this for 4 weeks and That it doesn’t look like fungal therefore I could have sex with my girlfriend. 2-3 weeks later my girlfriend got the itchyness return which leads me To believe it’s still fungal. The protopic has no effect.
On return to see my consultant I was then prescribed a cream called Trimovate which I have used for the past two weeks and with no effect 😦
I’m due to return to see consultant on Monday for a punch biopsy to understand what is going on.
As you can imagine it’s extremely frustrating and quite stressful as I would like to get back to having normal sex with my girlfriend.
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Has anyone else experienced such symptoms? And any treatments that work?
0 likes, 21 replies
ivan34545 lee70152
Posted
hey man, i have posted on this site a couple of times and i have had a weird rash/slight bumps on my penis glans as well that have persisted for the past month.. i have had balanitis before and i have tried using anti fungal cream but nothing seems to be helping they just get lighter and sometimes more red. im going to see a doctor next week so hopefully there is an answer to this but im with ya man
Wee_Dugie lee70152
Posted
Just to clarify, when the Dermatologist said you have "mild Balanitis" this is being used as a term to describe the symptoms you have, it is not a condition in itself.I can fully empathise with your frustration and the stress over this that you are now experiencing. So what you have is that you have gone from a situation of using antifungal treatment and it sounds like the Dermatologist has given you a Steroidal treatment, as this is what the Trimovate is, but it also contains antibacterial and antifungal medication.
You could be in a cyclical situation where if you are having unprotected sex with your girlfriend you could simply be re-infecting one another. While your Girlfriends symptoms may have cleared, She may still have a yeast or other problematical bacteria infection still present that are currently giving no symptomatic signs.
In addition, as the Trimovate is currently giving no change to your symptoms this may suggest you have an actual skin condition, some of which are specific Balanitis conditions, rather than describing sets of symptoms. The Biopsy will hopefully reveal what it is you actually have going on. What also may be helpful to consider is for both you and your Girlfriend to be referred to Urology by the Dermatologist - but the Biopsy may suggest otherwise.
Please, can you update your Forum Thread here once you have had the results of the Biopsy, or have otherwise other developments to what you currently have .........
lee70152
Posted
Wee_Dugie
thanks for the detailed response was greatly appreciated 😃
Forgot to mention my girlfriend did go the doctors and got swabbed before i went to see dermatologist and it come back all clear 😕
Have you suffered with similiar before?
quite anxious to find out the answer after biospy..
Wee_Dugie lee70152
Posted
Yes, I have suffered an incurable form of Balanitis for the last 8 years or so - the roots of my condition may have began when I was around 17 / 18 YOA as I suffered from Phimosis and set out to cure it myself. So I had severe issues with my foreskin and head of penis with what seemed like an irritation of some sort.
Let me know what your Biopsy result states and I may be able to guide your further on this .....
lee70152 Wee_Dugie
Posted
Does your balanitis affect tour sex life? i.e is it contagious therefore unable to have unprotected sex?
Wee_Dugie lee70152
Posted
The unfortunate thing with using the term Balanitis is that it can be used to describe symptoms on the head and foreskin area of the penis, which, for most men if treated properly would go away. The other use of the term is to describe an actual skin condition or disease that would need to be correctly diagnosed, then treated correctly, often of which, as some of these conditions are incurable, would require life-long treatment.
The essential issue is, what has been the actual, or predominant cause of what people refer to as their Balanitis. So, as you ask for example - symptoms described as Balanitis can have their beginnings if unprotected sexual intercourse has taken place and there has been a yeast, or other bacterial infection present.
You have raised the issue of your Girlfriend having an infection - unfortunately it is really difficult to differentiate just what it is that is happening for the two of you.
So as you ask: is it contagious? we are back again to the issue of what has caused this in the first place?! It is possible for you to be unwittingly causing your own bacterial infection - most of these issues are overcome with scrupulous hygiene practices.
So, for any sexually active male having unprotected sex - if the source of the bacterial / yeast infection is not treated correctly and cured, then the source will remain and the problem will simply reoccur .......
lee70152
Posted
Just an update...
i went for my biopsy today and ended up being a pinch biopsy.
Consultant noticed an improvement in terms of the redness in bottom of the glands of the penis which is a good sign so the trimovate seems to be working.
As the redness seems to be more at the top of the penis the biopsy was taken there.
should get results back in 1-2 weeks so fingers crossed.
As i still have redness on the testicles as well he seems to think there maybe be two issues going on here however wants to sort the penile glands first.
will keep this updated as it seems alot of people post comments and issues but never comeback with potential answers.
Regret lee70152
Posted
thank you for updating. appreciate it
lee70152
Posted
Only one more week till results, however i have posted some photos.
first photo is start of jan second is mod jan and 3rd is 1 week after pinch biospy.
lee70152
Posted
All I had my results back and all is good...
No cancer cells
No bacteria issue
No fungi
I'm awaiting for the letter from the dermatologist and will provide update of what the cause was and the issue, would rather ensure i get it right then type something wrong and ill advise
However one thing i am sure is applying a very thin amount of trimovate cream has certainly helped out!
lee70152
Posted
Apologies it’s taken a while to get around to giving more information but finally had my results thought via post this weekend. This is what was concluded:
Compact hyperkeratosis (abnormal thickening of the outer layer of the skin), acanthosis (thickening of skin) and prominent vasculature (blood vessels more prominent) in the superficial dermis. There is no significant inflammation which was examined at 6 deeper levels, and PAS and Grocott special stains for fungi were negative. There was no dysplasia and malignancy.
Consultant said this rash has somewhat come from the yeast infection (Thrush) of which me and my partner had, however that is now gone. I still have the rash it does tend to fluctuate between being prominent to a dull red colour, however if it does pick up again I have been told to use the trimovate for two days to help. But the best cause of action is to let it heal for a few weeks.
As suspected I’m still somewhat cautious because the biopsy was taken from the tip of the penile glands next to the urethra, however the rash is at the base of the penile glands as you can see from the pictures above. It was taken from this location as at the time the rash had died down and the redness was extremely prominent from the tip.
Has anyone had a biospy like this or been told similar to me?
Artemis272 lee70152
Posted
I wonder, apart from the general redness, does your skin get dry and covered by a layer of some kind of white film when the foreskin is retracted? Also, is the skin sticky?
I have been having similar redness for years now.. and I believe it all started with massive rash caused by yeast infection.
ivan34545 Artemis272
Posted
i had a balanitis case that i wasnt able to treat for about a month, but once i took the oral prescribed pills (forget the name its flu- something) it started to clear up, bumps went away but the redness somewhat persisted to this day (been almost a month). i think like lee said its from the rash being present and leaving its mark.. maybe something we have to live with for the rest of our lives but as long as it doesnt cause any issues, i am completely fine with it.
lee70152 Artemis272
Posted
hi Artemis,
no layer of white film or skin stickyness, i do however notice that it is more sensitive then before when have intercourse. Occasionally this does itch but i suspect this is a conseqence of everything that has happened. i suspect its from the yeast infection and part of me thinks my skin has thinned due to all the steriod creams.
i'll give it a few more weeks and if there isnt any change i'll pop back but consultant did say there is nothing to worry about.
suppose its a case of living with it for life.
lee70152
Posted
Oh and its alot more drier then before...
ivan92996 lee70152
Posted
Hi Lee.
i had the same issue for around 2-3 years and the more i lived with it the more sticky my foreskin became and the uroligt said my foreskin was most likely the case to the rash and as you said its became alot drier than before that's not a good sign either and that probably means that your foreskin its not producing any smegma to moisture the glans to keep it healthy why you probably also has the rash which in the end will also make your foreskin more sticky in years span at last i had to get circumcised because it would start to become painful to retract the foreskin and after that my reddish has nearly cleared without using of any creams 😃
Artemis272 ivan92996
Posted
Interesting, my stickiness also increased over time. I noticed there is never any smegma, and it is becoming uncomfortable to retract my foreskin because it is sticking to glans like a piece of sticky tape. The stickiness goes away when erect but a layer of white film becomes present within a minute or two. I've tried various creams but no help, maybe I've not used them for long enough. What I find odd is that my skin get slightly better after sex, which I can relate to lubricants in the condoms.
I'm a bit scared to go for circumcision just yet, I am worried that my skin would always be dry. What doctors did you see? Urologist, dermatologist??
ivan30549 Artemis272
Posted
Hi (Forgot the email to my other account sorry)
Well i went to all sort of doctors (1 Urologist, 2 dermatologist, 4 GP's) and they told me i either had to live with the stickyness and hope it would never get worse than now or i could opt in for a circumcision and it will be fixed now, well i went for it so i could enjoy a normal sex life again since some times my foreskin would be so dry that it would crack afterwards... My reddness is nearly gone (Mostly a pink now seems like scaring from the redness) for what that is to say and i had the same thing as you did with the white puss when errect that is also gone after my circumcision im only 3 weeks in i will tell you it improved for me alot.
I dont advice to get circumcision done just for a sore cosmetic standpoint but do it if your foreskin sticks like tape to the glans it can be really unpleasent in 3 years span.
Also to note i tried all creames you can think about and pills and antibiotics, even got suggest to get vaccine taken against other HPV since it has same symptoms.
Wee_Dugie Artemis272
Posted
Artemis, I have replied in detail to your own forum posting - what you state in this Forum further enhances what I have specified in your own Forum Post.
So, no! circumcision is not an answer and can merely add different problems to what is being experienced before the circumcision was carried out.
So, for example see what Ivan30549 states by way of his findings post-circumcision ......
Wee_Dugie lee70152
Posted
Lee, the description you were given via the results just seem to describe what has happened to the skin, rather than specify an underlying skin condition. I am wondering whether any of the medical professionals you have had contact with has mentioned the possibility of you having any of the Lichen based skin disorders?
So yes, I have had a Biopsy, but my condition was also present on my foreskin, not just the glans of the penis, so that is where the sample of infected skin was taken from. Unlike you, I was not given the detail you have had, either verbally or in writing - I was 'merely' informed that I have Lichen Sclerosus - or in some medical circles it is still known formally as Balanitis Xerotica Obliterans (BXO).
Artemis272 ivan30549
Posted
Hi Ivan,
now that you are months after the circumcision, how has your condition evolved? Has it got better?