Question: Hey doctor,

For the last couple of months I’ve had this burning pain when I pee especially if I don’t drink enough water. The last week and half however I’ve had symptoms of balanitis mainly redness around my foreskin and on the head of the penis plus a smelly odour. Initially my doctor prescribed me a steroid/anti fungal combination which seem to help as I had a lot of smegma build up that was hardened and the cream help soften it up for easy removal. Once I removed all that it was very red all over my penis and has been since and the cream seemed to just make things worse at that point. I then went off it for a couple of days and went back to my doctor and she just gave me the anti fungal by itself but what I’ve found from using that the last three days is that it made everything even more red and it would itch quite a bit when I used it, so tonight I decided not to apply it and although it is still red the itchyness and uncomfortable feeling from the cream has gone. My doctor also did a bunch of tests including a urine test, swabs for infection and sti’s but they all came out negative for everything including fungus or bacteria. Do you think it would be worthwhile stopping everything for a while to see if the irritation subsides especially if these tests showed no infection or can they sometimes miss things? Is the cream really necessary for the inflammation to go down? My worry is I’m travelling overseas soon and I’d like to calm it down before then in case it turns into something worse what are you thoughts? I’ve also never had sexual intercourse either so I don’t think it is related to that.

Hey doctor,

For the last couple of months I’ve had this burning pain when I pee especially if I don’t drink enough water. The last week and half however I’ve had symptoms of balanitis mainly redness around my foreskin and on the head of the penis plus a smelly odour. Initially my doctor prescribed me a steroid/anti fungal combination which seem to help as I had a lot of smegma build up that was hardened and the cream help soften it up for easy removal. Once I removed all that it was very red all over my penis and has been since and the cream seemed to just make things worse at that point. I then went off it for a couple of days and went back to my doctor and she just gave me the anti fungal by itself but what I’ve found from using that the last three days is that it made everything even more red and it would itch quite a bit when I used it, so tonight I decided not to apply it and although it is still red the itchyness and uncomfortable feeling from the cream has gone. My doctor also did a bunch of tests including a urine test, swabs for infection and sti’s but they all came out negative for everything including fungus or bacteria. Do you think it would be worthwhile stopping everything for a while to see if the irritation subsides especially if these tests showed no infection or can they sometimes miss things? Is the cream really necessary for the inflammation to go down? My worry is I’m travelling overseas soon and I’d like to calm it down before then in case it turns into something worse what are you thoughts? I’ve also never had sexual intercourse either so I don’t think it is related to that.

To sum up basically I was on the steroid cream for 5 days, I was off that for two and on the anti fungal for 3 days until tonight when I stopped it I plan on going back to my doctor too. I’ve also attached the tests I’ve have done so far to a PDF. Do you think it would be unwise to travel with something like this?

To sum up basically I was on the steroid cream for 5 days, I was off that for two and on the anti fungal for 3 days until tonight when I stopped it I plan on going back to my doctor too. I’ve also attached the tests I’ve have done so far to a PDF. Do you think it would be unwise to travel with something like this?

Thanks for the reply doc it seems to be a little better after stopping the cream, I will see how it goes. Just another couple of things I have attached an image but I have this brown looking marks in my public region and sometimes they seem to get quite itchy in those spots. What exactly do you think this could be? Could it possibly be a fungal infection I don’t really shave my pubic region that often so could that be why?

Thanks for the reply doc it seems to be a little better after stopping the cream, I will see how it goes. Just another couple of things I have attached an image but I have this brown looking marks in my public region and sometimes they seem to get quite itchy in those spots. What exactly do you think this could be? Could it possibly be a fungal infection I don’t really shave my pubic region that often so could that be why?

Another thing I’m not sure if you could shine a light on but the last month I’ve been having these weird head spins kind of where I feel dizzy and out of balance which is significantly worse if I don’t eat but I still seem to get them regardless. I can kind of feel it at the back of my head and the very top of my forehead and it feels like I’m going to lose balance. I’m not sure if it’s related to dehayatation or something to do with my blood sugar? I usually eat a pretty clean diet consisting of a lot of fruit and vegatbles but lately I’ve been having this and haven’t really changed anything.

Another thing I’m not sure if you could shine a light on but the last month I’ve been having these weird head spins kind of where I feel dizzy and out of balance which is significantly worse if I don’t eat but I still seem to get them regardless. I can kind of feel it at the back of my head and the very top of my forehead and it feels like I’m going to lose balance. I’m not sure if it’s related to dehayatation or something to do with my blood sugar? I usually eat a pretty clean diet consisting of a lot of fruit and vegatbles but lately I’ve been having this and haven’t really changed anything.

I forgot to add and I’m not sure if it’s related but I was recently diagnosed with this abnormal heart ryhtm called Asymptomatic pre-excitation and I’m having to do further tests for it but I’m unsure if that’s related to it?

I forgot to add and I’m not sure if it’s related but I was recently diagnosed with this abnormal heart ryhtm called Asymptomatic pre-excitation and I’m having to do further tests for it but I’m unsure if that’s related to it?

Thanks doc just one last thing my doctor prescibed me an antibiotic ointment called mupirocin 2% cream to try. I stopped for a few days with the antifungal and I’m just having issues again with the smegma becoming hard and sticking to the foreskin making it hard to get off along with it still being red. Do you think it would be worthwhile giving it a shot, is there any side effects to it could it make it worse? How long would it take to see results and how long shoudk I be using it for? Would it be also worth using an oral antibiotic at the same time as I’m having the burning pain when I pee?

Thanks doc just one last thing my doctor prescibed me an antibiotic ointment called mupirocin 2% cream to try. I stopped for a few days with the antifungal and I’m just having issues again with the smegma becoming hard and sticking to the foreskin making it hard to get off along with it still being red. Do you think it would be worthwhile giving it a shot, is there any side effects to it could it make it worse? How long would it take to see results and how long shoudk I be using it for? Would it be also worth using an oral antibiotic at the same time as I’m having the burning pain when I pee?

Hey doctor,

Just an update I’ve been using the antibiotic Mupirocin 2% cream for 3 and half days now and I’m not really seeing a huge improvement. The glans and foreskin are still red and inflamed as they were before, and I’m kind of worried about suddenly stopping it as it’s an antibiotic i don’t really want to create any resistant bacteria in the area. Should I just keep taking it for a set period of time and then stop even if it’s not improving symptoms, could it possibly work after a couple more days?

Hey doctor,

Just an update I’ve been using the antibiotic Mupirocin 2% cream for 3 and half days now and I’m not really seeing a huge improvement. The glans and foreskin are still red and inflamed as they were before, and I’m kind of worried about suddenly stopping it as it’s an antibiotic i don’t really want to create any resistant bacteria in the area. Should I just keep taking it for a set period of time and then stop even if it’s not improving symptoms, could it possibly work after a couple more days?

I also had a swab done and it only showed gram positive bacteria not yeast at all and the antifungal just seemed to do nothing if not make it worse.

I also had a swab done and it only showed gram positive bacteria not yeast at all and the antifungal just seemed to do nothing if not make it worse.