Dry and sore glans with a rough, red patch (10 months already)

Men's health
1

I am in my mid-twenties, and have not yet had sex. I have a very frustrating problem with my penis glans and genital area for 10 months now. It started in September 2017 when I kept my foreskin pulled back for an extended period of time. The bare glans rubbed against clothing for less than an hour, which was uncomfortable, so I stopped doing it.

Two days later, the first symptoms started, though not initially in my glans, weirdly enough. Instead, the area above the penis, the groin and my rectum started itching really badly. Over the next two weeks, the itching subsided and everything seemed to return to normal.

Then, two weeks after the first symptoms, I started to feel a tingling sensation in my penis. A few days later, I noticed a thick coating of something on my glans in the shower. Washing removed most of it, but an orange patch of skin was revealed on the glans, at the same spot that had rubbed against the clothing. The doctor I went to said it was nothing, so I waited.

Ever since the first symptoms, I’ve had a wide range of frequently changing symptoms, from unnaturally white skin to red bumps and patches, but overall the situation has gotten worse and worse (though there have been periods of relative calm where the glans looked better for a while).

The most prominent symptoms on the glans now are redness (mainly on the weird patch of skin), dryness, wrinkliness, glans sticking to the foreskin and soreness of the penis head.

I’ve been to the doctor many times. I’ve tried antifungal cream, plain vaseline, hydrocortison and antibacterial (fusific acid) cream, all of which appeared to be helping at first, but the symptoms always returned immediately after stopping the treatment.

The dryness of the glans has since become much worse. While there originally wasn’t really any pain, now the glans have a burning sensation and soreness after peeing. Other than that, the formerly high sensitivity of the glans is completely gone, and I can now touch and even rub the glans without feeling much. The glans also no longer produce any natural lubricant at all, even when aroused. With lube, masturbation is possible, but without it there is pain from the dryness (ironically, masturbation doesn't really make the situation worse in the long-run, just causes intense redness and miscoloration for a while). Showering makes the glans look a little better (aside from the ever-present red patch), but soon after it dries up again.

Another weird symptom that I’ve had since the beginning is that a part of skin above the penis (between the penis and the stomach) itches whenever I wear clothes over it. There’s nothing visible there, it just itches on contact with clothing, particularly when while walking. It’s strong enough to be annoying, but does fluctuate in how intense it is. I'm sure it's related to the problem, because it started out at the same time as the other symptoms. There have also been weird red blotches around my lips recently - I'm unsure whether those are related to the problem at all or not.

I am desperate and at my wit’s end. The problem has kept me depressed for much of these past 10 months. Any indication as to what it is would be greatly appreciated.

2

Yeah I mean, I’m not a doctor but it sounds like your allegric to soap powder or something? Or a fungal infection... how long are you symptom free for before stopping the antifungal cream? With fungal infection you need to continue the treatment 10 days or longer after symptoms have fully cleared! Fungal infections a quite sturdy things and are tolerant to a lot so you need to blast it and keep up the treatment for a while after it! And defo try a different soap powder on your clothes or something. Those are my two feelings given you said you haven’t had sex yet! 

3

Well, the symptoms have kept going despite the glans not being exposed to clothing much (I'm uncircumcized, and the glans are normally completely covered). Different soaps also haven't made a difference.

With the antifungal cream, I actually repeated the treatment two times. Both times I used the cream for 2 weeks, and the symptoms seemed to disappear within a day after starting the treatment. Well, aside from the red patch still being there, but that never changed even in the course of 2 weeks. I think it was mostly the cream hydrating the glans that made the symptoms ease, since they get really dry when I just let them be.

4

Could it be psoriasis? Have you google images of psoriasis on penis? Could that then if it’s recurrent and respondent to steroid creams but coming back when you stop using it. I know you can get a shampoo called capasal that is good for psoriasis but I’m nots sure if that’s something you can use on your penile tissue. It’s something that you can buy over the counter at a pharmacy but the pharmacist will want to ask you question. And he may not give it to you if you haven’t used it before or if you say that’s its for your penis lol given it’s intended use is on the scalp 

5

I looked up the symptoms and other info about psoriasis, but I don't think I have it... I'll ask about the possibility from a doctor though. Then again, google only shows really graphic pictures of the condition and mine isn't nearly that dramatic, so maybe I could have a mild case of psoriasis. The thing that makes me doubt it though is the itching above the penis without any visible symptoms, which wouldn't fit with psoriasis.

6

I realized that it would probably be helpful to share some pictures of the symptoms here, so here are four pictures of different symptoms I've had so far. The red spots have come and gone, and usually aren't present. One picture depicts the glans when they're really dry and wrinkly, and one depicts the red patch that is visible even when the glans are otherwise alright.

7

Update: A bacterial sample was taken at the doctor's and the results indicate a presence of streptococcus C, which is treatable with antibiotics. I don't yet know if that's really the main reason behind the infection or not, but I'm gonna try to treat it.

8

any update on this mate did you get the problem sorted?

9

Like you, I suffered, I went to the urologist, I had a urethral secretion test and it turned out that I had Staphylococcus aureus, it may be due to fractions, my skin was irritated and the bacteria created an infection, try to avoid alcohol, coffee if you are a consumer, try some supplements for immunity especially zinc, selenium and vitamin E were very useful for me, use only hot water when washing you must have strict hygiene (…)