Penile Rash/Balanitis Not Responding to Treatment

I'm not a doctor, i ever have spots on my penis and is gone now, the doctor here prescribe me fluticasone propionate 0.05% cream.

I've had the same problem for 12 years now. I'm almost certain that it's caused by genital HSV1, which I accidently spread to my genitals from my oral HSV1 that I've had for about 17 years.

The reason why I'm confident that it's this is because, like you, I've tried everything under the sun. And also, I've started putting some pieces together recently.

My past sexual partners (in relationships) did not have HSV1, but looking back my previous LTR partner started developing frequent yeast infections at some point through our relationship during immunocompromised times. I actually believe this to have been a HSV1 flareup in her genital region, misdiagnosed as a yeast infection, that I had given her unknowingly.

My current sexual partner also had never had HSV1 before, but not long ago developed sores and spot bleeding on her vagina and was diagnosed with HSV1. I've never noticed HSV1 blisters on my penis, it's always looked exactly like yours. So she must have contracted it from me. I've never really been big on oral sex so I don't think she would have gotten it that way, but if that was somehow the case then she would have surely infected my genitals by now (since she has it there), and since I've not noticed any change on my penis I can only conclude that I've already got it and have had it this whole time on my genitals.

So I think this all boils down to a persistent inflammatory state, and maybe some form of strange scarring, caused by an underlying HSV1 infection that remains dormant. It would also explain why no other treatment seems to help anyone, and if you read the responses in this thread, the vast majority of people who are complaining of the same thing are positive for HSV1. Personally I think you're wasting your time with the pelvic floor exercises, but maybe they mildly help with inflammation and that's why you've noticed a very minimal improvement from it.

My routine for managing this has been:

• Thoroughly clean and dry genitals after sex or masturbation.
• Try and avoid lubricants and other chemical products, lubricants in particular aggravate my skin.
• Keep the genitals dry and clean.

Going to also try experimenting with apple cider vinegar.

There's some promising HSV1 cure research that I've heard about that is entering human trials and lots of updates getting frequently posted on the HerpesCureResearch subreddit on Reddit, so go check that out if it interests you.

Are all of us with this issue uncut? It must be inner foreskin thing. I am considering circumcision as I think it will solve the problem of dry/sticky glans. I am tired of it being irritated/inflamed.

Are all of us with this issue uncut? It must be inner foreskin thing. I am considering circumcision as I think it will solve the problem of dry/sticky glans. I am tired of it being irritated/inflamed.

has anyone found anything that helps alleviate this?

If the antibiotics and antifungals do not work you should assume it is viral and it could be herpes. Anyone with these symptoms have a blood test for herpes.

Likewise, I'm suffering many of the same symptoms. First cropped up suddenly about 3 years ago. Has occured on and off since then, but is at its worst now- been pretty much constant for 6 months and shows no signs of becoming dormant again. Tried Canesten and Hydrocortisone to no avail; in fact it makes it worse. Only relief comes from retracting the foreskin, but this is only minor. 2 GP's and doctor at the sexual health clinic immediately diagnosed it as balanitis and prescribed the above creams. STI check all clear. I cannot envisage a solution. Access to a dermatologist through state healthcare is rapidly becoming an impossibility as the NHS steadily gets dismantled.

In my case its the foreskin that gets it the worst- the penis itself is RELATIVELY unaffected- leading me to think its heat or sweat based. There are no sores or anything like that. The feeling is one of burning or stinging. It can flare up very suddenly, before then dwindling again- it feels like it turns itself on and off like a lightbulb. Not sure if this is the case for anyone else but bad skin has been the bane of my life- this is just the latest in a long line. I initially thought it might be eczema.

can anyone pls try to take a diflucan pill and take S Boulardii (probiotic yeast) for the next 10 days or so..

diflucan to kill yeast and S Boulardii to fill your gut with healthy yeast so that bad yeast cant repopulate or overpopulate your gut..

imbalance in the gut is what usually causes skin problem and this could be one of them.. maybe an overpopulation of candida in the gut is causing balanitis.. creams dont cure cause it's all in your gut..

this is only a theory.

would be happy to see if that works.

Hi everyone, first of you thank you all for posting on here, it has been quite comforting knowing I am not alone in this. Had a similar issue than you all about a year ago, a red rash appearing just a couple days after receiving unprotected oral sex with a new partner. No pain or anything, just red-ish with tiny red dots similar to pimples. Immediately thought about STD so went to get tested. Every test came out negative. Was diagnosed with balanitis. Tried several creams for Candida, pills, cortisone cream... Nothing seemed to be working, was even worsening. I noticed the red patch became even redder after a stressful life event. Went to see 3 other doctors, all said pretty much the same: balanitis. Ended up seeing a dermatologist who was aligned with the diagnosis. Prescribed me all sort of creams, some with cortisone and it just made it worst again. Thought about potentially a bacterial balanitis but no doctor here in Canada would give antibiotics for my problem.

About 2 months ago, I decided to stop trying different things, I'm uncut so I just clean my head with water in the shower and don't soap it, then pull the foreskin back to let it dry & apply Polysporin antibiotic cream sold at any pharmacy nearby.

I must say I feel it is much much better, I still find my head more red than it was prior all this started but I know I'm obsessing over it vs barely paying attention before so I'm not sure how different it really is. I was able to spend a couple days without putting cream lately and it did not get worse, however after sex I got irritated and put Polysporin again. I still see the remaining of the red rash that initially appeared, especially in the shower, but it is very light. As of today I continue applying Polysporin topic cream a couple times per week and it seems to be keeping things under control.

Just antibiotic cream is working for me and it is rather easy to do, if you haven't tried this yet, I know it is hard to stop obsessing but I recommend trying just this basic tip and see if that can help you too. That skin is very sensitive, being mucosa, and it might never get fully back to what it was after a year of dealing with that s**t. Good luck!

Has anyone found anything that has helped or completely resolved?

main problem is people leave after they find a cure I guess. there ought to be success stories..

my theory is this is related with gut.. since no cream seems to help and antibiotics are useless and make the situation even worse... I have a past of abusing antibiotics and that's why I think it could be the gut balance that's causing this..

for I never had unprotected sex and my penis was swollen during intercourse, behind the condom... I thought it was a latex allergy but still same witn non-latex...

I'm now on probiotics and hoping to feel better.

Following this thread for almost a year I decided to register and share my experience too. I may give help or hope to some of the people with the same problem. I totally empathise with you all - I have been through the five stages of grief and I didn't like it at all. I felt so helpless, I have been exactly in the same situation as jack05468 describes for exactly one year. All the doctors were saying: You are ok, it's very normal (implying that I am not dying). I used to reply them "If I have a toothache I know I am not dying but I would still go to the dentist to resolve it." I visited five GPs, one Sex health clinic, one dermatologists, one NHS urologist & two private.

All this time the doctors have prescribed cortisone, anti-bacteria, anti-fungal creams and antibiotics (internal and external). Very often they were suggesting to clean my glans with warm water with salt.

One day I decided to rule out every possible scenario even if it would take a life time.

1)I started using water based condom, to make sure that my glans is not getting irritated by any chemicals.

2) I even stopped having sex for a while (maybe for two or three months)

3) I stopped masturbating often (I limited to once per 15 days or once per month). In the past I used to masturbate almost once every two or three days and often do 'edging'. I was thinking that this may have caused a kind of chafing or dermatitis on the glans. I was also suspecting that the edging may have irritated my prostate which consequently could have caused the balanitis.

4) When I masturbate I don't touch the glans at all.

5) I clean my glans every day with cold water. I noticed that warm water was irritating it more.

6) I don't put any soap on it.

Now something important. I notice that I had started going to urinate in the middle of the night and my urine stream was splitting in two or three directions. I am quite young to have prostate cancer but I had read that the prostatitis could cause balanatis or balanoposthitis. So I went to a private doctor in a South European country because they are 75% cheaper than the UK (I have south european passport that's why). I addressed the problem of balanitis and I asked them if they think that is connected with prostatitis. They checked my prostate with an ultrasound device and they put a cotton swab in my urethra. They said that my prostate was normal but I may have had prostatitis in the past because when they asked me to go and urinate my body held 40ml of urine. Anyhow the swab test showed that I had 'E-coli' bacteria inside my urethra. This is quite important because in the UK they didn't take a sample from inside my penis - only from the outside.

The E-coli can cause both prostatis and balanitis. So they gave my antibiotics for this E-coli to take two times a day for 15 days. I think this is when things started getting better.

I visited again a GP in UK and they gave me cortisone cream that I think finally worked.

Now I think I am (almost) back to normal. So what might have happened is a combination of untreated E-coli that was causing and re-enforcing the balanitis and therefore it was not going away. Perhaps masturbation and sex used to flare it up too. So after the E-coli was treated then the cortisone managed to treat the balanitis externally. The lack of any kind of stroking allowed my glans to slowly restore the irritated skin. Visually there is something there like a 5-10% of redness but the pain or irritation is no there any more.