Hello,
I'm a 23 year old male. I am uncircumcised. It's been a little over 4 years now that I developed the symptoms of Balanitis. The symptoms were burning, itching and foul smelling discharge. At the time I didn't know what it was, and was very embarrassed to tell anyone. Plus I didn't have any medical insurance to see a doctor, and still don't. Anyway, after a few weeks the symptoms went away in terms of the burning itching sensation, and foul smelling discharge. But the tip of the glands(opening of the urethra) remained swollen. I didn't experience any pain while urination or anything like that. So at that point, it became easy for me to ignore this problem, and sweep it under the rug, as I lacked the better judgment to forgo the embarrassment, and deal with this issue. This past month I learned about Balanitis and learned that the cause of mine was most likely caused by an accumulation of smegma underneath my foreskin. As embarrassing as it is, I did not know that my foreskin was meant to be pulled back and washed. Even when erect, my foreskin was never pulled back, I'm assuming due to a tight foreskin, So I did not know that the glands were meant to be exposed. I don't believe I have phimosis, because when I'm not erect, I'm now able to pull the foreskin all the way back exposing the glands. I've now been washing my glands with warm water each time I shower. My concerns now are how do I go about treating this. Currently, the glands are red, but not inflamed. The tip(opening of the urethra) is swollen red, But I don't have difficulty urinating, but I'm sure this has caused constriction of the urethra. There's no burning or itching, or foul smelling discharge. It's just redness, and a swollen tip. I used a topical corticosteroid cream for about 2 days and didn't see any improvement. I'm concerned that because I never took any course of action to treating the swollen tip of my glands, and the redness of the glands itself, I may have caused permanent scarring, or worse have put myself at risk of it being malign. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and also if there's anyone who can address my concerns that would be appreciated as well. thanks.