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Persistent penile irritation, bumpiness, skin change...
Okay, sorry for the lengthiness of this post, but I feel a thorough background is necessary for this. For the past four years I have had irritation/skin problems with my penis head and I am worried it may be HPV (or maybe molluscum ... ?) despite my doctors opinion based on visual exam. The details are as follows...
Beginning of July, 2005: I had unprotected sex with a girl I had known for only a few days. Two days later, I got very sick. There was no vomiting or anything of that sort, just a general rundown feeling, and a feeling of whole body achiness seeming to originate in my lower back. The sickness, however, was gone by 10 PM that night and I felt great afterwards. At the time, I attributed this to what looked like spider bite on my leg …
July 2005 to August 2006: I was sexually active, but monogamous with a clean partner who was also only sleeping with me, and we always used protection. We had two instances of condom breakage, though. Symptom-free ...
Late August 2006: Discovered multiple, circular, painless, lesions in the pubic hair area above my penis. The lesions were about 2 mm in diameter, not in clusters, and within a week had healed. Before healing they sort of scabbed and had dry white edges before disappearing. Most of them disappeared completely, but one or two left freckle like dots in their place that are still there today. Halfway through this “outbreak” I visited a doctor to get them checked, and he told me they weren't like any STD he had heard of, and if they don't go away in a week then come back. I convinced him to give me a blood test for HSV-2 which came out negative.
December 2006: I experienced the same type of sickness described above, lasting only a single day. A couple weeks later, while being masturbated in the shower by my girlfriend, I noticed a slight burn in the tip of my penis upon ejaculation. There was nothing noticeable to see, so I attributed it to using soap as lubricant. About two days later after masturbating in the shower, I noticed a small sore on the left side of my penis head (glans) that really freaked me out, but after two days the store was completely gone with no noticeable remnants.
January 2007: while at work waiting tables (I never wore underwear), my penis head started to become very irritated and sore from rubbing the inside of my pants while I walked. I had worn these pants many times before at work under the same conditions and never had a problem, so I am positive it was not the pants. Over the next week, the irritation got worse, along with a general “roughing” of the skin on my penis head, very tiny red bumps, and, upon erection, a somewhat shinier appearance of the skin. I also noticed (maybe coincidence … but is also accompanying current “outbreak”) that the valley of skin between my scrotum and legs, and also my anus was very itchy at times (mostly night time). I went to see a doctor about this who simply said that it was in irritation, and gave me a steroid cream to apply to it. I followed his instructions with the steroid cream, but no improvement happened. The moisture from the cream, however, seemed to further irritate the condition, as well as any other type of moisturizing cream I would apply to it.
February 2007 to December 2010: I ceased applying any type of topical treatments to my penis, started wearing boxer briefs, and tried to forget about the problem because doctors seemed to be no help. By March or April of 2007 the condition began improving to the point where it wasn't becoming irritated, and I didn't really think about it anymore. I was having protected sex with my girlfriend (the same one I began dating in August 2005), receiving oral sex from her, and being masturbated her, all without any discomfort or problems. The skin on the head of my penis, however, still remained rougher than before, and still appeared little shinier when I had an erection. It also seemed to be less “bouncy” than before. For example, if my penis had been laying over a seam in my underwear, it would take what seemed like extra time for the skin to lose the indentation from the seam. Also during this time period, I would get random flesh colored and dome shaped bumps on the head of my penis measuring about one half of a millimeter, but disappearing in a day or two after appearing, and leaving no remnants.
January 2011 to present: During a period of particularly high stress, my penis started to become very irritated again. This time, the area of highest discomfort and redness is in the urethral opening and meatus, but the entire penis head is still inflamed and irritated. I visited a doctor at a Planned Parenthood facility who told me I had nothing, and it was just moisture that was irritating me. I went for a second opinion from a urologist who told me I had balanitis and that you didn't know what caused it and couldn't do anything about it. I went for a third opinion from a dermatologist who also said I had nothing, but gave me a steroid cream for the irritation. He said the steroid cream should take care of it in 4 to 5 days. I applied the cream for five days, with no improvement. The cream actually seemed to make the irritation worse from the moisture, so I discontinued use. Currently I am trying a witch hazel/tea tree oil mixture twice a day and in the meantime trying to keep the area dry using baby powder. So far nothing has improved and I am really becoming depressed with this problem.
So far, doctors seem to have been zero help to me. Every doctor that I have seen so far agrees that this is not an STD and isn't contagious, but I am worried that they are not catching on to what could be an atypical presentation of HPV or molluscum. None of the doctors have actually done any type of tests or anything. What they have told me has been based on a visual examination. If this isn't an STD, then I would really like to find out the nature of this problem. Is it fungal, bacterial, viral, allergic??? I must also note that my girlfriend of five years never exhibited any symptoms similar to mine, and never had an abnormal result from a Pap smear, leading me to believe that maybe this isn't contagious... I don't know. I have tried everything from changing soaps to non-allergenic kinds, and changing my laundry detergent to jock itch cream ... all to no effect. I just don't know what to do!
If anyone has any type of insights, or has been going through something similar, or may know something about this, please help! I am at my wits end, thoroughly stressed, depressed, and freaked out.
Thank you so much.
Beginning of July, 2005: I had unprotected sex with a girl I had known for only a few days. Two days later, I got very sick. There was no vomiting or anything of that sort, just a general rundown feeling, and a feeling of whole body achiness seeming to originate in my lower back. The sickness, however, was gone by 10 PM that night and I felt great afterwards. At the time, I attributed this to what looked like spider bite on my leg …
July 2005 to August 2006: I was sexually active, but monogamous with a clean partner who was also only sleeping with me, and we always used protection. We had two instances of condom breakage, though. Symptom-free ...
Late August 2006: Discovered multiple, circular, painless, lesions in the pubic hair area above my penis. The lesions were about 2 mm in diameter, not in clusters, and within a week had healed. Before healing they sort of scabbed and had dry white edges before disappearing. Most of them disappeared completely, but one or two left freckle like dots in their place that are still there today. Halfway through this “outbreak” I visited a doctor to get them checked, and he told me they weren't like any STD he had heard of, and if they don't go away in a week then come back. I convinced him to give me a blood test for HSV-2 which came out negative.
December 2006: I experienced the same type of sickness described above, lasting only a single day. A couple weeks later, while being masturbated in the shower by my girlfriend, I noticed a slight burn in the tip of my penis upon ejaculation. There was nothing noticeable to see, so I attributed it to using soap as lubricant. About two days later after masturbating in the shower, I noticed a small sore on the left side of my penis head (glans) that really freaked me out, but after two days the store was completely gone with no noticeable remnants.
January 2007: while at work waiting tables (I never wore underwear), my penis head started to become very irritated and sore from rubbing the inside of my pants while I walked. I had worn these pants many times before at work under the same conditions and never had a problem, so I am positive it was not the pants. Over the next week, the irritation got worse, along with a general “roughing” of the skin on my penis head, very tiny red bumps, and, upon erection, a somewhat shinier appearance of the skin. I also noticed (maybe coincidence … but is also accompanying current “outbreak”) that the valley of skin between my scrotum and legs, and also my anus was very itchy at times (mostly night time). I went to see a doctor about this who simply said that it was in irritation, and gave me a steroid cream to apply to it. I followed his instructions with the steroid cream, but no improvement happened. The moisture from the cream, however, seemed to further irritate the condition, as well as any other type of moisturizing cream I would apply to it.
February 2007 to December 2010: I ceased applying any type of topical treatments to my penis, started wearing boxer briefs, and tried to forget about the problem because doctors seemed to be no help. By March or April of 2007 the condition began improving to the point where it wasn't becoming irritated, and I didn't really think about it anymore. I was having protected sex with my girlfriend (the same one I began dating in August 2005), receiving oral sex from her, and being masturbated her, all without any discomfort or problems. The skin on the head of my penis, however, still remained rougher than before, and still appeared little shinier when I had an erection. It also seemed to be less “bouncy” than before. For example, if my penis had been laying over a seam in my underwear, it would take what seemed like extra time for the skin to lose the indentation from the seam. Also during this time period, I would get random flesh colored and dome shaped bumps on the head of my penis measuring about one half of a millimeter, but disappearing in a day or two after appearing, and leaving no remnants.
January 2011 to present: During a period of particularly high stress, my penis started to become very irritated again. This time, the area of highest discomfort and redness is in the urethral opening and meatus, but the entire penis head is still inflamed and irritated. I visited a doctor at a Planned Parenthood facility who told me I had nothing, and it was just moisture that was irritating me. I went for a second opinion from a urologist who told me I had balanitis and that you didn't know what caused it and couldn't do anything about it. I went for a third opinion from a dermatologist who also said I had nothing, but gave me a steroid cream for the irritation. He said the steroid cream should take care of it in 4 to 5 days. I applied the cream for five days, with no improvement. The cream actually seemed to make the irritation worse from the moisture, so I discontinued use. Currently I am trying a witch hazel/tea tree oil mixture twice a day and in the meantime trying to keep the area dry using baby powder. So far nothing has improved and I am really becoming depressed with this problem.
So far, doctors seem to have been zero help to me. Every doctor that I have seen so far agrees that this is not an STD and isn't contagious, but I am worried that they are not catching on to what could be an atypical presentation of HPV or molluscum. None of the doctors have actually done any type of tests or anything. What they have told me has been based on a visual examination. If this isn't an STD, then I would really like to find out the nature of this problem. Is it fungal, bacterial, viral, allergic??? I must also note that my girlfriend of five years never exhibited any symptoms similar to mine, and never had an abnormal result from a Pap smear, leading me to believe that maybe this isn't contagious... I don't know. I have tried everything from changing soaps to non-allergenic kinds, and changing my laundry detergent to jock itch cream ... all to no effect. I just don't know what to do!
If anyone has any type of insights, or has been going through something similar, or may know something about this, please help! I am at my wits end, thoroughly stressed, depressed, and freaked out.
Thank you so much.
Had such problems for years. Finally, I was prescribed Venlafaxine a few years ago, about 25 mg/d, and still using it.The pain is gone.
Honestly it sounds like you have sensitive skin, not a std. witch hazel and tea tree oil are very irritating and drying and I wouldn't continue to use them either.
your symptoms come and go in very short time frames and the odds of them being herpes is also very low.
grace
your symptoms come and go in very short time frames and the odds of them being herpes is also very low.
grace
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Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Millions of people are diagnosed with STDs in the U.S. each year.
STDs can't be transmitted by casual contact, like hugging or touching.
Syphilis is an STD that is transmitted by oral, genital and anal sex.
