On/off Rash for past 8-9 months on head of penis!!!

[concernedpt]

My fiance & I have never had problems with our chemistry before & have never had any problems down below. One day (8 months ago)we decided to get condoms & try out these climax control trojans we heard about. We had used one condom, found experience bad, so took it off half way through and continued naturally. Well, ever since then about 4-5 days later both her and I were irritated. I went to the derm. about 4 months later & he said it was a candida infection. He rx me hydrocortisone iodiquinol 1%. I have gone through ~3 tubes of it & the redness has never subsided. At the same time my fiance had the cottage cheese like substance & treated with monistat, went away, & we preceeded from there. Well, 4 months ago when I went in for my appt, derm. said that my fiance and I have been "ping-ponging" it back & forth (the infection). So we bought unlubricated condoms and have used that. Great for her, nothing has come back, etc (as far as she knows). However, using the cream t.i.d. for the past month religiously, the redness has not faded at all 4 me. I also notice that after sex, masturbation, or ejaculation, the glans is very red and looks irritated. Well we fell off the boat 2 nights ago & had sex without a condom, & I woke up the next morning & was irritated and very red.  She has no itching or redness, but has very little amt of"cottage-cheese like" substances. So do I have a yeast infection, if so why wouldn't it have gone away with the use of the cream for almost 2 months??? Also, I am uncircumsized & before using condoms, we weren't too religious about washing up afterwards. However, we never had a problem with this even when having sex without a condom and not washing after. This entire problem literally began days after using our first condom together, that was the Trojan Climax Control Lubricant condoms.  When first got the redness & rash, there were tiny red dots on my glans, but had no elevation to them & dissappeared after few days, but redness, a red ring around the whole of my glans never went away. I've seen pics, showing it look like balanitis, etc. but this is just killing me.  Let alone having sex with my fiance is causing irritation & more redness, but even masturbation causes it or touching myself. Right now it is red on the glans, does not itch, no substances, odor, discharge, etc, and the very tip of my foreskin is red & a little on my shaft under my foreskin is red. Is this a yeast infection still, is it irritation, allergic reaction or infection from the condom or what???  Neither her nor I have ever had an STD, but is it an STD??? Basically we are both tired of this and want something done. I also am a soccer player & not so good about changing socks rght away, and I especially sweat alot in my feet. I've always had hard, dead skin on bottom of feet from soccer. Derm said athlete's foot. Could I have spread it from feet to penis glans??? What should I do?! OTC? etc?
Pic: http://img65.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pict00499jk.jpg

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Hydrocortisone iodiquinol is not nearly the strongest anti-yeast medicine there is, and the hydrocortisone may be aggravating yeast, so if that's what you've been using all along, I'd try clotrimazole 1% (over-the-counter).  Alternately, this could be balanitis (irritation), in which case a stronger steroid for a while might be what you need, but I would try the yeast cream first.  And I'd arrange to see the doctor again, or another one.  Whatever you have, it's curable.  I don't think that condoms will help at this point, and may increase irritation.

Best.

Dr. Rockoff

[concernedpt]

Thank you for your input. So we should abstain from sex until I clear up and not even bother with condoms until I clear up? Do you think that this all started because of some weird reaction, etc. with using the very first condom we used together? Thank you for you help it is greatly appreciated. I have an appt on Tuesday to go back to Derm. Please let me know what you think about the above. Thanks!

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Yes.  I'd wait till Tuesday on both.

Dr. Rockoff

[concernedpt]

Sorry Dr. Rockoff. I know your time is short, but I just didn't know if you were also saying yes to my previous post, in regards to the yeast infections starting from a weird reaction with the first condom ever used with each other, or if you were saying yes to something else.  Once again I apologize for taking up more of your time.  I greatly appreciate your help and knowledge.

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Yes to abstaining from sex and using condoms.  

Dr. Rockoff

[Panda_P]

A related discussion, Cure? was started.

[confused008]

A related discussion, Balanitis treatment not working was started.