white bumps

Doctor-I am 22 yo male.  I also have white bumps I would like to ask you about.  They appeared on my penis for the 1st time about a month ago and are still there.  I don't have a lot of sex but I am not a virgin.  I had had oral sex 2 weeks previous to the bumps appearing so I was concerned it was genital warts. After reading information about warts, I determined it wasn't which confused me because I had no idea what it could be.  These white bumps (couple are red/pinkish) are on the shaft of my penis, but none on the head, scrotum, or surrounding areas.  THere are roughly 20 not really grouped, but mostly on one side (but there are some all around.  It sounds like they are cysts after reading some of the other questions..but what exactly are cysts?  are they health threatening?  and why am I getting them now?

The other thing I wanted to ask is for my whole life, my skin has always been red.  I have dry skin and i don't think it is acne and to my knowledge i have never had acne.  It kinda looks like I have a rash all over my body and its most red on my back, shoulders, upper arms, and chest.  Also, I get little red pimples on my back, chest and upper legs...and recently Ive been getting whiteheads on my face....my questions are does it sound familiar?  Are the two problems (the white bumps and rasH) related? and should i see a dermatologist?  If you need more info send a comment back and I will provide it.

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Cysts are collections of dead skin material within the skin.  They are common and have no health significance.  I doubt you are getting them now; you are just looking harder because you had oral sex.

You are also looking harder at the rest of you.  That's why you're noticing redness, whiteheads, and whatnot.

My advice is: see a skin doctor once, so you can get a definitive diagnosis and stop worrying.  Second, avoid unsafe sex, so you can spend less time looking up things on-line or elsewhere.  I can't diagnose myself either, so when I get worried, I see my own doctor.

Take care.

Dr. Rockoff

[ILLJ|Nx]

i once hade eczma (eczema) around my penis when i was fourteen i couldnt stop cratching it after when the eczma (eczema) cleared i noticed a few spots olong the shaft of my  penis, after 4 years of finaly having the nerve to see a doctor he couldn't tell me mutch however theese spots have rapidly increased  and now cover my penis and srotum and on the head there are white skin growths which are slightly different to the others as they are slightly raised and smaller and they do not leave waxy yellow pus when they burst please tell me what this is or what to do about it as i wont have the nerve to vissit a doctor again