Red Skin under foreskin for years
Posted , 2 users are following.
Hi I've been having dry skin, redness, foul smell etc. every now and then regarding my penis for my adult life (I'm now 32). I've found patting it dry and leaving the glans exposed after washing has stopped any flareups.
The only problem really has been this little patch way back underneath my penis under the foreskin. It has never really cleared up and is just red and inflamed for as long as I can remember. I am in the process of trying a 1% w/w steroid cream, and it does seem to help, but by the time the next morning comes around it's more or less back to where it was (perhaps slight improvement)
Here it is about an hour after applying cream (much improved)
Like I say I'm about at the end of the 1 week of using steroid cream, and need to stop really now, but I'm just concerned it will come back again. Here it is this morning before putting cream on
Are there any good tips for getting rid of this and keeping it gone???
There is no itching or pain, sometimes the very tip of my penis also gets a bit inflamed, and occasionally a little bit of general dryness and itching all over my glans and foreskin.
Since it can't be seen apart from when I turn over my penis when flaccid and pull foreskin right back, I'm tempted to just ignore it and live with it.
Thanks
n
1 like, 8 replies
Wee_Dugie neptune81949
Posted
So, I had similar problems to you for many years and through the process of trying to deal with it and improve on it I found out the hard way how penile skin reacts to different things.
First try to get closer photos so that I can see the general quality of the distressed skin. Take a number of photos in bright daylight (next to a window inside house etc) and post the clearest ones.
Make a list of EVERYTHING that contacts the distressed skin: soap, shower gel, other body wash in the shower, your underwear and more relevantly, what you clothes are washed with (the type of soap powder / treatment / additives and suchlike), are you sexually active regularly or regularly masturbate, again do you apply Lubes or other stuff for sex and / or masturbation?
The steroid you have: was this prescribed to you and if so by who: GP / family doctor / dermatologist / urologist / other?
What is the name of the steroid? Is it a white cream or is it an opaque / clear ointment ...... ?
neptune81949 Wee_Dugie
Posted
Hi!
Thanks for having a look. This is the best pic I can get:
After a week of using:
Spoke to my GP over the phone this morning, he said it should be fine to use this for another week 1x a day, then take a week of no cream, then try Daktacort instead for a week see if that helps.
I was using bubble bath and taking fairly long baths, but I've stopped that for a few days now. I was masturbating daily, but again have stopped for the past few days. I never used lube and to be honest was quite hard on myself.
The GP said it should be fine to use the steroid cream for a bit longer, he also said it sounds unlikely to be anything sinister, but he hasn't seen it since due to covid etc. it was just a phone appt.
neptune81949
Posted
Couple more pics:
Wee_Dugie neptune81949
Posted
I would suggest this has come about because of the way you have always cleaned your penis - certainly if you have the head of your penis exposed in the bath with an additive in it (the bubble bath) that is going to make the situation much worse, and times so if the bath water is really hot.
Unfortunately the only way round this is to switch to shower only, and as far as possible have the only thing that contact your penile skin to be warm water for cleaning. And yes, I would suggest you need to stop masturbating for as long as you possibly can - months is better than days or weeks.
I am also not convinced Daktacort is an appropriate treatment - it is very unlikely you have a fungal infection present - also the cream you have is, as far as I understand it for treating infections on the skin rather than helping the skin itself to heal.
If you say this has been pretty much in-place throughout your adult life then I think you are going to need the help of a Dermatologist to get the damaged skin back to being healthy again. This is certainly not a process that will occur over a period of weeks, or even several months - certainly not using the topical treatments you have.
So if you want to involve the GP use the treatment for the period of time they suggest and get back to them unless this radically changes for the better. Say you think there has been skin issues present for a long period of years and would the GP refer you to a Dermatologist. The other route to getting checked quicker - if you live in the UK, would be to go to a GUM Clinic at a major General Hospital in the region of the country where you live. Or. you could get the number first to check whether they are currently doing in-person appointments .....
neptune81949 Wee_Dugie
Posted
Thanks for your thoughts they make a lot of sense. So you think even baths without bubble bath should be avoided? I do love my baths haha! I've switched to just bath salts and just 20 minutes long at the moment. I suppose I'll go with the GPs recommendation for the moment, even though I don't have much faith it will help, at least then I can say I've tried it.
Wee_Dugie neptune81949
Posted
Are you trying to do your irritated skin a favour or not? So yeah, you can have a bath with something in the water (salts, bubbles etc) as long as this does not contact your damaged skin on your penis
Your choice - do you want it to heal or are you quite happy with it as it is now .....
The thing with GP's if you contact them again and say you did not do what they asked you to do last consultation, do you think they are going to take you as seriously as when you do follow what they asked you to do ...
neptune81949 Wee_Dugie
Posted
It's actually a good question. It seems like quite a lot of effort to try and get it to heal, you're saying it could take months. It causes no discomfort and can only ever be seen when I pull the skin right back and examine it. It's not in a visible position I suppose. I think I was more concerned it could be something more sinister, since the creams didn't seem to be helping, but my time on this forum now has shown me that the skin in this area often doesn't respond that well to treatment, and having shown it to a couple doctors they haven't seemed too concerned. I think I'll keep up with the excellent skincare in the area for the next few weeks, will try the doctors recommended cream for a week and then decide how much further I want to go!
Thanks, n
Wee_Dugie neptune81949
Posted
So just a review: you state in the title for your post 'red skin under foreskin for years' - this is not a situation that is going to improve, relatively overnight.
If something has been in place causing problems to the foreskin for that period of time then it will take an extended period of months of doing ALL of the right things for the conditions to be right for healing to actually BEGIN, let alone for complete healing to take place.
First you must remove all sources of irritation and keep it that way for you ever to get to the position where healing will start and continue to occur