Red areas around corona of penis

[Phire]

About a year ago I was diagnosed with balanitis and phimosis and was circumsized. Today I am having problems again, the glans seems to dry out and on the corona there are bright red patches, the redness is mostly near the area where the frenelum is, where the "V" shape is and on each side it is bright red. I am also finding alot of buildup of white colored "plaque" in crevaces under the corona, sometimes when wiping this with a tissue it turns out to be yellow in color. When it dries out it tends to itch a bit and feels pretty good when in cold water. The bright red patches are not raised and do not look anything like pimples, they look like bright red splotches. I do have psoriasis, especially around my legs. The red splotches are what concern me because I have heard that they can be an indicator for penile cancer, but alot of conditions can give red splotches as well. The spotches almost look like this: http://www.healthcentral.com/mhc/fullsize/1779.jpg but it is not spread as much as that and the splotches are not as large, it looks more like this http://www.skina.org/atlas/09mucosa/images/plasma%20cell%20balanitis0.jpg can you suggest as to what it may be and what I should do?

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Neither of the pictures comes up when I enter the URL you give.  In any case, your description matches balanitis, or eczema of the penis, rather than anything more serious or transmissible.  Try some 1% hydrocortisone (over the counter) while you set up an appointment with a skin doctor.  How well you respond will help the diagnosis and treatment recommendations.  Other than the hydrocortisone, the less you do and the less you examine, the better off you're likely to be.

Best.

Dr. Rockoff