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Very strange condition with penis - red spots on glans and rash from semen
I'm sorry, this post is quite long because it's such an unusual condition, and I want to be as clear as possible.
(A lot of this was posted as a comment to another thread but I realized that comments don't get answered. Only questions do, so here I am, again.)
I have been on long term (several years) Minocycline use for acne. I'm in my early 30s.
Also, just before this all began, I had started taking aspirin every couple of days. (I had read that it was good for the blood, and I smoke, so...)
And, I am not circumsized.
About 8 weeks ago, while having sex with my girlfriend (we don't use a condom), I somehow injured the tip of my penis. There were no lesions or anything visible from it or anything, just an intermittent dull pain in the tip once in a while. I still occasionally get that pain, or I least I think it is.
A few days later, I noticed a slight burning sensation on the head of my penis during sex with her, and afterwards, noticed that the entire head, and the interior foreskin, was all bright red and covered in tiny red dots. There was no noticeable pain or itching from it, but it did seem much more sensitive than usual.
By the second day, most of the redness had gone and I had some skin flakes forming. By the third day, it had cleared up a bit more. I saw a doctor then, and he said to just forget about it. Probably friction or allergic reaction to soap or something. Doesn't look like herpes. After a couple more days, it was pretty much looking normal again.
I realized though, that masturbating or sex with a condom did cause an increase in redness and sensitivity (red blotches on the head, some tiny, some larger, looked like bruising where the blood rises to just beneath the skin), that would clear up over a couple to three days. Again, painless, no itch, but worrisome. Gradually though, the redness that would occur after cumming would become less and less severe over time.
Three weeks later, after having sex with my girlfriend again a couple of times, the redness came back almost as bad as the first time, but not quite. I went back to the clinic (different doctor this time) and he also said that it didn't look anything like herpes. Again, probably just friction or allergy. Just keep clean and dry. (I HAVE been keeping clean, but never more than towel-dried my glans before. Never had a problem with it either.)
The same pattern. Redness went away except for when I masturbated or had sex with a condom, but it was never as red as when I had condomless sex with my girlfriend. This time too, the redness that would come after cumming would gradually become less and less severe each time.
I even tried experimenting a little and tried to masturbate on the shaft but with no friction on the head at all. Still though, a few minutes later, the head would be covered in red blotches. Friction or no friction didn't seem to make a difference. I figured that I had ruptured some blood vessels or something and that it hasn't healed yet. (And I still occasionally get pain, which I am almost sure is the same as the pain from a few days before this all started.)
Had sex with my girlfriend once a day a couple weeks later (penis was looking healthy and fine - almost no remnants of red spots at all) and after three days, AGAIN, the head got all red with blotchiness. (This time, I decided to shower immediately after sex with her every time, but it didn't seem to make a difference.)
Now it's been a while since I've had condomless sex with her adn it seems much better again, (though not completely). For two months now, it's been getting red, getting better, getting red, getting better, etc... Just when I think I'm cured, it comes back (though never as bad as when I'm with my girlfriend).
There's nothing at all on the web that I could find these symptoms for. Not one picture of herpes comes very close to this. I have no blisters, no pain, no real itching (no more than usual anyway), no oozing of fluids, etc. Just these red blotches or tiny spots on the tip of my penis that keep coming back, and most of it goes away after a couple of days. No pus from the urethra. I've read that herpes can have very different symptoms for everybody, but could this be herpes??? Coming back and going away so quickly? Brought on by ejaculating? Lasting this long? I've read that a yeast infection wouldn't go away like this either, so what in the world could it be?
Please help me out. I don't know what to do, and I hope it's not herpes, but whatever it is, I'd like it to stop!
And...
I have another weird problem that I just noticed a few days ago.
I don't know if this has been something I've had for a while or not, as I have never inspected myself so closely before...
Anyway, after masturbating last week, I notice a rash of red spots everywhere the semen had fallen, about an hour later. (From above my penis in the pubic hairs to the top of my inner thigh.) They were all located at the hair follicles. A while later, they had lost a lot of their redness and didn't look nearly as bad. Shortly thereafter, the spots were a light pink and were almost completely gone after two or three days. I tried masturbating again a couple days later, but let the semen fall to the opposite side. Again, I got a rash where the semen had touched! This too, cleared up a lot after a couple of hours, and almost completely after a couple of days. Tried it again today and same thing happened. Now, they're just pink spots, but earlier were quite red. Have I got an allergy to my own semen???
So, what do you think is going on here? Do you figure this is herpes? Fungal? Physical? Bacterial? What?? I bought a creme with "oxiconazole nitrate" in it that the pharmacist told me I should try. But after checking the internet, I found a site that said women shouldn't use this on their vaginas, so I thought, maybe I shouldn't use it on my penis. I noticed that you often recommend hydrocortisone cream, but I read that if it IS herpes, hydrocortisone can make it worse and spread it.
So, now I don't have any clue what I should be doing.
Are the two conditions I described related? Different things altogether?
Please tell me what you think this is and what I should do about it. Do I have herpes? Is there any creme or ointment that I should try? Stop having sex and masturbating? Get blood test? Cut it off??? The condition is not normally uncomfortable physically, just sensitive. (It feels a little more raw after sex.) I'm just worried about what will happen next and how long it will last. And I don't want to give anyone any incurable diseases... Incidentally, my girlfriend is the only person I have had sex with without a condom. She swears that she has never shown any symptoms of anything, ever.
The pharmacist even went as far as to suggest that I may have developed an allergy to a hormone (that would be present in both my girlfriend and in me) to account for the red rash on the head. Is this possible? The docs I saw were urologists. Was that the right place to go? Should I visit a dermatologist?
To help you understand what the rash on the head looks like, I've found a couple of pictures on the net that look similar.
At first, after a couple of days from the first signs, it looked something like the picture at (though significantly milder):
http://www.dermis.net/doia/image.asp?zugr=d&lang=e&cd=48&nr=48&diagnr=112950
after the first week or so though, the lesions after ejaculating more closely resemble the pictures at the following link (though maybe not as bad, and also there are normally tiny red dots present):
http://www.dermis.net/doia/image.asp?zugr=d&lang=e&cd=16&nr=44&diagnr=607130
I apologize for the long, long posting. I know it is difficult for you to diagnose properly over the net, but I don't speak the local language here very well and the doctors seem prematurely dismissive. I hope I've given you all the info you need.
Thanks for a wonderful service, by the way!
Bumper
(A lot of this was posted as a comment to another thread but I realized that comments don't get answered. Only questions do, so here I am, again.)
I have been on long term (several years) Minocycline use for acne. I'm in my early 30s.
Also, just before this all began, I had started taking aspirin every couple of days. (I had read that it was good for the blood, and I smoke, so...)
And, I am not circumsized.
About 8 weeks ago, while having sex with my girlfriend (we don't use a condom), I somehow injured the tip of my penis. There were no lesions or anything visible from it or anything, just an intermittent dull pain in the tip once in a while. I still occasionally get that pain, or I least I think it is.
A few days later, I noticed a slight burning sensation on the head of my penis during sex with her, and afterwards, noticed that the entire head, and the interior foreskin, was all bright red and covered in tiny red dots. There was no noticeable pain or itching from it, but it did seem much more sensitive than usual.
By the second day, most of the redness had gone and I had some skin flakes forming. By the third day, it had cleared up a bit more. I saw a doctor then, and he said to just forget about it. Probably friction or allergic reaction to soap or something. Doesn't look like herpes. After a couple more days, it was pretty much looking normal again.
I realized though, that masturbating or sex with a condom did cause an increase in redness and sensitivity (red blotches on the head, some tiny, some larger, looked like bruising where the blood rises to just beneath the skin), that would clear up over a couple to three days. Again, painless, no itch, but worrisome. Gradually though, the redness that would occur after cumming would become less and less severe over time.
Three weeks later, after having sex with my girlfriend again a couple of times, the redness came back almost as bad as the first time, but not quite. I went back to the clinic (different doctor this time) and he also said that it didn't look anything like herpes. Again, probably just friction or allergy. Just keep clean and dry. (I HAVE been keeping clean, but never more than towel-dried my glans before. Never had a problem with it either.)
The same pattern. Redness went away except for when I masturbated or had sex with a condom, but it was never as red as when I had condomless sex with my girlfriend. This time too, the redness that would come after cumming would gradually become less and less severe each time.
I even tried experimenting a little and tried to masturbate on the shaft but with no friction on the head at all. Still though, a few minutes later, the head would be covered in red blotches. Friction or no friction didn't seem to make a difference. I figured that I had ruptured some blood vessels or something and that it hasn't healed yet. (And I still occasionally get pain, which I am almost sure is the same as the pain from a few days before this all started.)
Had sex with my girlfriend once a day a couple weeks later (penis was looking healthy and fine - almost no remnants of red spots at all) and after three days, AGAIN, the head got all red with blotchiness. (This time, I decided to shower immediately after sex with her every time, but it didn't seem to make a difference.)
Now it's been a while since I've had condomless sex with her adn it seems much better again, (though not completely). For two months now, it's been getting red, getting better, getting red, getting better, etc... Just when I think I'm cured, it comes back (though never as bad as when I'm with my girlfriend).
There's nothing at all on the web that I could find these symptoms for. Not one picture of herpes comes very close to this. I have no blisters, no pain, no real itching (no more than usual anyway), no oozing of fluids, etc. Just these red blotches or tiny spots on the tip of my penis that keep coming back, and most of it goes away after a couple of days. No pus from the urethra. I've read that herpes can have very different symptoms for everybody, but could this be herpes??? Coming back and going away so quickly? Brought on by ejaculating? Lasting this long? I've read that a yeast infection wouldn't go away like this either, so what in the world could it be?
Please help me out. I don't know what to do, and I hope it's not herpes, but whatever it is, I'd like it to stop!
And...
I have another weird problem that I just noticed a few days ago.
I don't know if this has been something I've had for a while or not, as I have never inspected myself so closely before...
Anyway, after masturbating last week, I notice a rash of red spots everywhere the semen had fallen, about an hour later. (From above my penis in the pubic hairs to the top of my inner thigh.) They were all located at the hair follicles. A while later, they had lost a lot of their redness and didn't look nearly as bad. Shortly thereafter, the spots were a light pink and were almost completely gone after two or three days. I tried masturbating again a couple days later, but let the semen fall to the opposite side. Again, I got a rash where the semen had touched! This too, cleared up a lot after a couple of hours, and almost completely after a couple of days. Tried it again today and same thing happened. Now, they're just pink spots, but earlier were quite red. Have I got an allergy to my own semen???
So, what do you think is going on here? Do you figure this is herpes? Fungal? Physical? Bacterial? What?? I bought a creme with "oxiconazole nitrate" in it that the pharmacist told me I should try. But after checking the internet, I found a site that said women shouldn't use this on their vaginas, so I thought, maybe I shouldn't use it on my penis. I noticed that you often recommend hydrocortisone cream, but I read that if it IS herpes, hydrocortisone can make it worse and spread it.
So, now I don't have any clue what I should be doing.
Are the two conditions I described related? Different things altogether?
Please tell me what you think this is and what I should do about it. Do I have herpes? Is there any creme or ointment that I should try? Stop having sex and masturbating? Get blood test? Cut it off??? The condition is not normally uncomfortable physically, just sensitive. (It feels a little more raw after sex.) I'm just worried about what will happen next and how long it will last. And I don't want to give anyone any incurable diseases... Incidentally, my girlfriend is the only person I have had sex with without a condom. She swears that she has never shown any symptoms of anything, ever.
The pharmacist even went as far as to suggest that I may have developed an allergy to a hormone (that would be present in both my girlfriend and in me) to account for the red rash on the head. Is this possible? The docs I saw were urologists. Was that the right place to go? Should I visit a dermatologist?
To help you understand what the rash on the head looks like, I've found a couple of pictures on the net that look similar.
At first, after a couple of days from the first signs, it looked something like the picture at (though significantly milder):
http://www.dermis.net/doia/image.asp?zugr=d&lang=e&cd=48&nr=48&diagnr=112950
after the first week or so though, the lesions after ejaculating more closely resemble the pictures at the following link (though maybe not as bad, and also there are normally tiny red dots present):
http://www.dermis.net/doia/image.asp?zugr=d&lang=e&cd=16&nr=44&diagnr=607130
I apologize for the long, long posting. I know it is difficult for you to diagnose properly over the net, but I don't speak the local language here very well and the doctors seem prematurely dismissive. I hope I've given you all the info you need.
Thanks for a wonderful service, by the way!
Bumper
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Bimper:
The amount of time and energy you've put into examining and interpreting yourself are impressive, as is the failure of two competent and no doubt correct diagnoses to reassure you.
You are quite perceptive to remark, "I don't know if this has been something I've had for a while or not, as I have never inspected myself so closely before..."
Indeed.
When your skin gets irritated, as from friction from sex or masturbation, or dripping semen, then anything which increases blood flow to the skin (sex, water, heat) will make the skin look redder. The pictures you found, of yeast and a special kind of dermatitis, do not fluctuate, the way your symptoms do. This fluctuation is characteristic of irritation, which is what the two doctors who examined you said you have. Herpes looks and acts nothing like this.
Keep the area lubricated and for heaven's sake, stop looking so hard. If you are still anxious, see another dermatologist. If that doesn't work, consider counseling. Such obsessing in the face of repeated reassurance is not doing you or your relationship very much good.
Good luck.
Dr. Rockoff
The amount of time and energy you've put into examining and interpreting yourself are impressive, as is the failure of two competent and no doubt correct diagnoses to reassure you.
You are quite perceptive to remark, "I don't know if this has been something I've had for a while or not, as I have never inspected myself so closely before..."
Indeed.
When your skin gets irritated, as from friction from sex or masturbation, or dripping semen, then anything which increases blood flow to the skin (sex, water, heat) will make the skin look redder. The pictures you found, of yeast and a special kind of dermatitis, do not fluctuate, the way your symptoms do. This fluctuation is characteristic of irritation, which is what the two doctors who examined you said you have. Herpes looks and acts nothing like this.
Keep the area lubricated and for heaven's sake, stop looking so hard. If you are still anxious, see another dermatologist. If that doesn't work, consider counseling. Such obsessing in the face of repeated reassurance is not doing you or your relationship very much good.
Good luck.
Dr. Rockoff
A related discussion, Red spots in gland penis and foreskin by seminal fluid was started.
A related discussion, Similarities was started.
A related discussion, rash from semen was started.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Any moisturizer will do.
Health information from a reputable site can be useful. One such is New Zealand Dermnet: http://www.dermnet.org.nz/index.html.
Dr. Rockoff
Health information from a reputable site can be useful. One such is New Zealand Dermnet: http://www.dermnet.org.nz/index.html.
Dr. Rockoff
Indeed you are correct. I commented on the same issue several months ago. A recent survey found Internet health sites sorely lacking though this one seems to be on the mark. Any site that mentions herpes insists that it can look like anything if not nothing at all. And this is the problem. My dermatologist scolded me for looking for information on the web saying, "There is no filter for people who don't know what they are looking at."
I am heartened to see I am not alone in this Internet-paranoia issue.
I am heartened to see I am not alone in this Internet-paranoia issue.
Dr Rockoff,
Thanks for your reassurance. You're probably right, and I will try to stop worrying about it. Still, I'm wondering when the hell this problem will go away!!
I'm starting to think that the net can be a great, or a very, very bad thing. There's no sites that tell you about the OTHER 200 things that could cause a rash, bumps, lesions, etc. in the pubic area... The only thing that comes up is HERPES, HERPES, HERPES, and when you go to those site, they basically tell you "herpes symptoms can be just about ANY abnormality of the skin".
Tends to make one pretty paranoid of every single bump, itch, and what-have-you that may show up!!!
By the way, is there a moisturizer that you would recommend for such an area?
Thanks again.
Bumper.
Thanks for your reassurance. You're probably right, and I will try to stop worrying about it. Still, I'm wondering when the hell this problem will go away!!
I'm starting to think that the net can be a great, or a very, very bad thing. There's no sites that tell you about the OTHER 200 things that could cause a rash, bumps, lesions, etc. in the pubic area... The only thing that comes up is HERPES, HERPES, HERPES, and when you go to those site, they basically tell you "herpes symptoms can be just about ANY abnormality of the skin".
Tends to make one pretty paranoid of every single bump, itch, and what-have-you that may show up!!!
By the way, is there a moisturizer that you would recommend for such an area?
Thanks again.
Bumper.
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