seborrheic dermatitis on penis

I am a 38 yr old male who has suffered from Seborrheic Dermatitis his entire adult life.  I can control rashs on my scalp and forehead reasonably well with cortisone creams and zinc shampoos.  However, my real problem is on my penis where cortsone creams, shampoos, and about anything else I have tried is only slightly effective.  The winters are paricularly bad as I experience raised red patches and extreme sensitivity all around the shaft of the penis.  I would greatly appreciate any advice you might have or if you have heard of these kinds of symptoms with many others.

[nb664]

I was recently diagnosed with seborrhoeic eczema.
It is mainly on my face but a couple of years ago I had something very similar on the glans (glands) of my penis. The skin specialist considers them both to be the same thing.
The blotchiness on the glans (glands) cleared up after about a year of using various moisturizers and all that remains is redness on the edge of the glans (glands).
Although I am glad to see it looking better the sensitivity/soreness from any friction, even just walking, really gets me down.
So it sounds like we are in a similar position, I am currently scouring the web looking for forums etc where someone might have some idea of how to deal with it.
I hope someone answers your post.
Good Luck

[justanotherguy908]

i have dealt with the same thing.  my scalp and ears are barely a bother compared to having it on my penis.  the first time it came up it went away by itself within 2 months and didn't come back for 2 years.  then it stayed around for 6-months and then went away.  now it's back again on the opposite side of the glans (glands).  do not use any corticosteroids down there unless you have no other option.  protopic (0.03%) works pretty well, but should be used on an on/off basis due to the fact that nobody really knows its effects long-term.  keep moisturizers on it and keep it clean.  also, DO NOT overstress it, it will only make it worse.  take yoga or exercise for a release, anything where you can channel all of your focus off your condition and towards a positive.  it's hard, but by far the best thing you can do for yourself.  it's not curable, only treatable (as i'm sure you know), so learn to live with it the best way you can (i'm sure you've been trying).  those are the best words i can give.....

another method i've tried is when i have a flair-up, i shock it with Aclovate, a mild steroid for 1-2 days, 2x a day, then protopic for about another2-7 days.  moisturize after getting out of the shower.  good luck.

[problem86]

Did you find any cure or solution for this? i have noticed the same thing.

Please do let me know if you found any solutions.

[trvl_far]

For what this information may be worth: I too have been diagnosed with Seborrheic dermatitis on glans (glands) of the penis (I do not have it anywhere else on the body). The condition has lasted for about 20 years and was first diagnosed as psoriasis. Only last year was seborrheic dermatitis diagnosed (after biopsy).

The rash has always come back within a day or two after I stop using whatever med I was/am using. For the first 12 years or so, it was corticosteroid creams. Then Dovonex ointment, which worked very well for a while before it seemed to stop working. Now for a year and a half, Protopic ointment 0.1% has worked very well to keep the skin as clear as it has been since this condition started.

I never experienced much pain until last year (before I started the Protopic), and now I'm often in pain. Usually for days  after masturbation, but even sometimes if I haven't done anything for weeks. My derm doctor suggested that antidepressant medications have been found to sometimes relieve pain. I have so far declined to go that route. The most likely cause for the pain, I believe, is based on damage to the skin from prolonged use of corticosteroid topicals. In fact, the initial condition has very minor, but magnified after a rebound effect from the initial treatment with steroid cream.

Be careful with the steroid topicals. I'm not saying to not use them. But use them judiciously, perhaps together with the other meds available, along the lines that justanotherguy908 talks about.

[Carl166]

I have had this condition twice.  Both times the trigger seemed to be swimming in the ocean and having wet swimmers on for a little while.  Nothing topical seemed to work.  I went to the doctor twice and he diagnosed it as Seborrheic dermatitis.  He said "we don't know why, but usually it just goes away eventually"  In my cases, it did.

The only advice I could give is to use a moisturiser, and don't use soap.  I used a pine tar solution in the bath or shower.  It looks unsightly, but will eventually clear up of its own accord.  I found the cortisone creams useless.

[tswebb2000]

I have heard of people using Mona Vie Original Gel to treat other skin conditions.
Have you tried this?

[Chimu]

Well a couple years later since this first post.  After an intense flair I ended up at a whole new level of skin inflammation that I contend with daily.  I use protopic daily and there have been stretches of time that I have been sexually functional.  But I would describe the condition as being barely treatable.  Without protopic I would be in a bad state.  But with it I am still unable to live a normal life most of the time.  Dermatologist seem perplexed and I think that is the typical state after seeing many of them.  No one really understands psoriasis or SD.

[Carl166]

I have the same condition back again, this time it has been with me for 12 months, and is worse.  The first 2 times, it was just flaky skin - this time it develops into small red bumps which become mildly infected.

No-one really knows the cause, and I think that's why there is no definite cure.  My opinion: it must be some kind of fungus or virus.  In my case, the symptoms are only present under the foreskin and on the glans (glands).  These skin surfaces are moist, so maybe there is some kind of fungus that only lives in moist conditions, or feeds on natural skin secretions? This would explain why the condition gets progressively worse - the natural oils of the skin are being removed and exposing the skin which weakens it, in turn inflaming the condition.
My condition definitely worsens when I am stressed.
There must be a cure.  Any medical research scientist who can definitively isolate the mechanism for this disease and find a cure will become very wealthy.
In the meantime, try exposing the area to sunlight, use whatever topical treatments that work (I use various combinations of 100% vitamin E oil, 100% emu oil, fresh aloe vera juice, manuka honey) no soaps, definitely no cortisone creams, eat healthy, try to avoid stress.  Sometimes active sex or masturbation seems to actually help!

[mac_ad]

I was diagnosed with this as well, and if I use valerate.2% and cicloprirox olamate 1% together it clears up almost immediately, and as long as i use it every day only missing a few here and there it will stay away, but if not my skin gets red and dry again, not painful, but terribly annoying and hard to explain to partners.

Hopefully there will be a way to keep the skin free of these without daily treatment, and Id be curious to hear radical treatments from experienced dermatitis experts, but because its not super common I find not much help at all and was lucky to find a doctor who tried several treatments before finding the mixture that works for me.

I have no dermatitis anywhere else at all, and i've been cleared of all stds, so Im a little curious how this actually occurs in the first place.

[Dhaan]

Hey fellas! Ive got the same symptoms on my glans (glands) penis. My symptoms first started with pain and then skin gets red and inflamed. Masterbation (masturbation) and sex makes it worse. I battled with it for a year before finally finding something that worked for me! Initially i tried steriods and of course those worked, but long term use is bad. Protopic worked the best but like others have said, continual use is also risky. Also, protopic lowers the immune system in the area leaving you more susceptable to a herpes infection. No one wants herpes.
The whole problem is the skin is reacting to your normal skin bacteria and fungus. The protopic lowers the immune system so it no longer over reacts.
With all that being said i discovered that simple antifungals work best. My dermatolgist prescribed for use once a day after showering. It took me a while to get it all under control but let me provide  what works for me. I use Ketoconazole (broad range antifungal) after each shower whether once or twice a day. I use a soft powder to keep the skin from irritation and to prevent moisture. Fungus likes moisture. Do not hesitiate to shower immediately after working out to prevent moisture and fungus growth. Do NOT use moisturizers to masterbate unless u shower immediately after. I use silicon lubricant which works pretty well. Raw sex is ok, but using condoms is even better as the irritation is less. The antifungal needs 2 weeks to start working properly. Use powder and antifungul for 2 weeks and you will see a difference. It will not work as well as protopic but it works very very well. Contact me at off_beat_7***@**** if u have questions.

[Dhaan]

Oh yah the antifungals are cheap... I spend about 10 bucks every 3 months!

[mirvus]

i have also been diagnosed with sebhorreic dermatitis on the glans (glands).  it started last year around mid november, continued through early-mid may, then disappeared for the entire summer.  i was never bothered once by it from mid-may until, once again, mid-november.  i've read that the condition tends to flare up for a lot of people who have this condition in their scalp, something to due with the humidity change and the air being drier in the winter.  i'm only guessing that's what has caused mine to flare up, because nothing else has changed.  i use ketaconazole cream twice a day to try to keep it in check.  so far this winter, it isn't terrible, i seem to remember last year being worse, but then... it just started two weeks ago, so it might get bad yet.

typically, it starts burning/aching after urinating and, to a lesser extent, masturbating.  sex never seemed to bother it particularly.  the  redness is pretty strictly confined to the tip of my penis, though last year the redness did spread as far back as halfway up the head of my penis.  generally, though, the only irritation/burning i feel is at the very tip.

do any of you ever have trouble sleeping because of the condition?  that's really the only issue i have with it - it's irritating during the day, but not exactly what i would call painful.  but occasionally at night (last year as well as once so far this year) it has been enough to keep me from getting to sleep.

[mirvus]

er, i meant to say, "i've read that the condition tends to flare up *in the winter* for a lot of people who have this condition in their scalp, something to due with the humidity change and the air being drier in the winter."  both times this has bothered me, it has started when the first real cold spell came in.

[Dhaan]

ya it does bother me at night.  Just last night it kept me up.  So frustrating.  Gets depressing knowing I'll have to deal with it the rest of my life.  This summer its been flaring up quite a bit...I live in a very HOT and HUMID climate.  For the majority of you guys it sounds like the dryness is what causes flare-ups but for me it's completely the opposite.  The winters are best for me and summers are worst for me.  I enjoy going to the pool or lake but all that does is seem to aggravate it more.  Im going to go back to my derm and see if she can prescribe cicloprirox olamate.  It's supposed to be better than ketaconazole.

[seyswho]

I have dealt with seborrheic dermatitis since I hit puberty.  I get it on my scalp, eyebrows, chin (where facial hair grows), and my penis (both the base of the shaft where pubic hair grows as well as the glans (glands)).  It presented in white flaky skin on the hair area and small red bumps and lesions on the groin area, which look very unfortunately like herpes (which I have been tested for several times and do not have).  I tried a million different OTC creams and such and did a crazy amount of online searching, but no one seemed to know how to fix it.  I finally asked a doctor about it, and was extremely fortunate to find one who has seen this many times before.  I was delighted to find that, although there is no cure, there actually is a treatment that works almost perfectly, AND is non-steroidal.  It is a prescription-only cream called "Nystatin and Triamcinolone Acetonide".  You have to tell your doctor about it specifically, because many of them have never heard of it before.  My mother has a similar skin disorder (it is generally known in the medical community that this disorder is genetic, or at least runs in families), and she went to several doctors and spent over a thousand dollars on specialists, to no avail.  Once she found that this cream worked great on me, she specifically mentioned it to her doctor, who actually had to look it up right there because she had never heard of it before.  After all those specialists and all that money, it took two applications of this $8 bottle of cream and she was good as new again.  Typically, I only need to apply this cream one or two times during flair-ups and the problem is gone for several months before it returns again.  Please, please, please mention this to your doctor and give it a try.  I understand what you all are going through and it is absolute hell.  This was essentially my "cure"!  Let me know if this worked for you.

[ilgustuz]

Hi sayswho,
interesting reading however the cream you mention
<>
is in fact a steriod cream. That is why you can only normally get it through a medical prescription.
More info here:
http://www.drugs.com/mtm/nystatin-and-triamcinolone-topical.html

[brnw]

I have the same problem and have seen many dermatologists. They tell me there is no cure and Im personally trying to figure out what makes it flare up and how to keep it under control. I have been prescribed a few different steriod creams which help to some extent but i am very wary of using them as the doc says they thin your skin. Hopefully they can find a cure for this sometime soon, would much prefer not to live with this the rest of my life

[RockDuckZ]

This is a much more refreshing topic than what the other suggestions were guiding me to...I was diagnosed with this when I thought it was herpes or something nasty of the sort.  From what I've read: herpes itches and feels irritated, whereas seborrheic dermatitis could go unnoticed if you didn't even look down there; however, having an inflamed penis after masturbation will definetly scare you enough to start reading up on it.  I had a hard time putting my finger on what the sore was, since it was fairly small, unpronounced, unirritated, and a singular mark.  I haven't read anything about herpes inflamming the penis after masturbation.  Is this sort of thing seasonal?  I live in Wisconsin, and with winter coming I seem to be drying up all over the place.

Damn the internet for all of the mixed sightings...I've never been so freaked out over a personal ailment before :P.

[RockDuckZ]

This is a much more refreshing topic than what the other suggestions were guiding me to...I was diagnosed with this when I thought it was herpes or something nasty of the sort.  From what I've read: herpes itches and feels irritated, whereas seborrheic dermatitis could go unnoticed if you didn't even look down there; however, having an inflamed penis after masturbation will definetly scare you enough to start reading up on it.  I had a hard time putting my finger on what the sore was, since it was fairly small, unpronounced, unirritated, and a singular mark.  I haven't read anything about herpes inflamming the penis after masturbation.  Is this sort of thing seasonal?  I live in Wisconsin, and with winter coming I seem to be drying up all over the place.  Be very grateful for this condition, because in comparison, it is the more fortunate choice (if you had to choose lol).

Damn the internet for all of the mixed sightings...I've never been so freaked out over a personal ailment before :P.