Hey, I was showering yesterday and noticed these strange red dots appearing on my gland and I'm a bit freaked out.
They do not itch, and they don't appear to be watery or anything of the sort. I'm a bit scared. I do have a semi-active sex life, but I always use protection.
What's your take?
Please upload better picture.
As the other responder states, the photo does not show the red dots.
On the head / glans of the penis the most common cause of red spots is something that is causing irritation to the very sensitive skin. For a sexually active male who does NOT use protection the most common cause of irritation is yeast / fungal infection derived from penetrative vaginal sex.
It is also possible to develop a fungal infection without sex, however this is linked to poor hygiene practices and is avoided through regular showering, change of underclothes daily, and for someone who is sportingly active or does gym workouts where sweat is a regular occurrence, then again, sports clothing needs to be changed on a daily basis for freshly washed ones.
After this, irritation can become an accumulative issue, and almost anything in contact with the skin of the glans / head of the penis on a regular basis can cause this. Here the most common irritant is soap, shower gel, and for someone using condoms regularly, these can also become an irritant. Most often the problem becomes evident when someone changes soap, shower gel, switches to a different brand or type of condom, or uses a different lube for sex or masturbation on the penis.
However, sometimes nothing in particular seems to have triggered the problem, in these instances you quite literally have to exclude everything from contacting the glans / head of the penis - and this includes all the things I have already mentioned, particularly soap and all forms of body wash.
Always use water only to wash the glans / head of the penis - during a shower, do not apply anything to the penis, wash everywhere else on the body first and fully rinse any cleansers from the body. Spend sometime using the running water to fully rinse the entire groin area, and in particular, the glans / head area of the penis. After washing or showering make sure the skin on the entire penis is 100% dry by using a clean dry towel that only you use.
Once you have put the good practices in place, you may not notice any difference for 5 or more months, depending on how long the source of irritation has been experienced by the skin on the glans / head - for many males, the problem is down to an accumulative effect, and even when the sources of irritation are removed, symptoms of irritation such as lumps, bumps and spots can take an extended period of months to completely fade away, of which, 6, 7 or even 8 months is not unusual.