For about 3 years, I have something that looks like a discoloration\lighter color\shiny color patch on the penis head.
It's shallow or even has a very little dimple (the patch is a bit sunken?)
It was never itchy or painful.
When I touch it a little it becomes more reddish color
As you can see in the pics, there are other small discoloration not far from it (not sure if it's related).
When I have an erection it's much less noticable.
About 1.5 years ago I went to the doctor and he said it might be Linchen Planus and gave me a cream to apply for a week or so (something cortizone? can't remember. probabyl a steroid).
It didn't help.
I should also mention that I have frequent urination, not too long from where this patch started, got tested and it's not UTI.
Very recently I noticed that the middle of the patch has a small dot, shiny/white color.
It can only be seen in a very specific angle, and not very visible on a regular basis.
Can anyone help me? What can this be?
Thank you very much in advance.
looks like maybe an irritation
Any idea if you’ll visit a doc? Looks almost like some sort of scarring (to my untrained eye)?
The skin on the head of your penis is in quite poor condition, this may be typical for someone who is circumcised but there are things you can do to make the skin healthier. Try to prevent soap and other body cleansers from getting onto your penile skin and use water only to clean your penis. Get yourself some Coconut Oil (pure if possible) and apply a light coating every other day - best to do this after you have taken a shower and dried yourself.
The patch you are talking about would suggest it is a skin condition and this is why the Doctor suspected Lichen Planus and prescribed you what was likely / or should have been a corticosteroid. This would ONLY have been affective if it was an ointment rather than a cream (the ointment is a clear colour) and using it for a week would not have been sufficient.
However, if this ACTUALLY is a skin condition what I would have expected is that it would have gotten a great deal worse, particularly if it have been present for around 3 years. What I would do is to start to use the coconut oil on a regular basis and see how the patch reacts to it. Should at any point in the future the patch worsens the best specialist to see would be a Dermatologist, with the urination issue you have I would actually go see a Urologist as there are some relatively severe conditions that can potentially cause this.
Thank you for your answer.
I will try to avoid using soap on it and start trying the coconut oil.
Yes it was actually an ointment. It might have been 2 weeks, I can’t remember exactly.
Can this ointment cause any side effects or more damage like thinning the skin or pigmentation?
If not, maybe I should try another course of this corticosteroid?
So, the role of a corticosteroid is to enable unhealthy or damaged skin to be as healthy as possible. There needs to be minimal contact with healthy skin as that is not what it should be used on.
As the problem skin you have in a very small are restricting application of a corticosteroid to the damaged skin only could be quite difficult to achieve.
Have you actually see a Dermatologist?
Yes I have. He prescribed the ointment to me.
I will see another one soon and in the meantime will apply coconut oil every other day as you suggested.
I just apply and rub in the entire area.
So, sometimes the thing with dealing with Medical Professionals, particularly specialists is that if you build a trust and feel you can work together with them often these are the circumstances to find a solution to whatever issue it is you may have at the time.
Coconut Oil, unlike prescribed applications such as a steroid ointment does not need to be rubbed in to provide some beneficial impact. So a light coat evenly spread on the shaft of the penis, then spend a little longer rubbing it into the skin on the head of your penis.
Please update your Forum Post here after you have seen the Dermatologist …