Consequences of alcohol on glans?

[timmits]

Many years ago, I had pearly penile papules on my penis glans, and very was emberassed. I looked up different kind of "treatments" on the internet, one of them mentioned applying iodine tincture with alcohol to the glans, so the papules would "dry out".

At that time, I was too emberassed to go to a real doctor, so I applied iodine tincture (95% alcohol!) on my glans for the next three weeks.

The skin on my glans dried out, after a couple of days I could shrub away the skin and some papules. Then the skin would grow back. I reapplied the whole process until the papules on my glans were almost all gone.

After I stopped the "treatment", my glans looked normal without any scars or strange colors, but the problem is, even after many years, my glans still hurts, especially in the morning.  

Could you explain exactly what the iodine tincture/alcohol could have done to my glans, and also, would it make sense to go to a real-life dermatologist? I'm also worried that I'm more prone to sexual diseases now.

Thanks in advance for your answer.

[Jasmina Jankicevic, MD, MSc, CCRP]

Side-effects of use of alcohol on the skin can be excessive dryness (damaged skin barrier function) and consequent irritation (redness, burning sensation, etc.).

[timmits]

Thanks for your anwer, but could you also elaborate on the effects of alcohol on the skin?

[Jasmina Jankicevic, MD, MSc, CCRP]

Welcome to the Dermatology Expert Forum!

Three weeks of topical use of iodine tincture even on sensitive skin of the glans would hardly give pain as a local long-term side-effect. On the other hand, local short-term side effects could have been skin irritation or allergy, accompanied with skin redness, edema, burning and itching.

Your dermatologist could evaluate the state of your skin as well as subjective symptoms, and discuss measures you should take to prevent STD.

Wishing You Optimal Health,
Dr. Jasmina Jankicevic