Question: I have slight redness and occasional irritation on my penis shaft under the foreskin this is there for 2 months now. When washed with water becomes more reddish. No other symptoms. Could u tell me the reason and cure

Thank you doctor. Am a sexually active person and my worry is if it is any kind of std or fungal infection. skin of the penis under the foreskin is reddish with occassional red spots. It itches sometimes at the tip but neither unbearable nor does it last long. I wash my penis with warm water twice daily but does not apply any soap or shower gel because i feel it makes the skin even more red in colour. There are no other symptoms and this has been there for the last two months. Am traumatized by this and seek your advice. Am based in middle east and will MUPIROCIN be available here or if not is there any other alternative.

Doctor,

With respect to my earlier mail, I consulted an urologist and he also prescribed Mupirocin (Bacroban) ointment for 5 days twice daily. Within 3 days of applying the ointment the redness around the shaft of the penis disappeared and also the itching. But there is one small red spot (which looks like a small blister but doesn't pain) on the glans of the penis which has not gone away. I have discontinued mupirocin after 5 days. There are no other issues or symptoms. Please advise if I should continue applying mupirocin on that area or try some other new ointment.

Kindly advise

Thank you doctor. I'll continue using it for another week.

Urologist consulted here did not say what it is since at the time I consulted him there wasn't much redness. When I wash with water and soap only it used to become red all over. Now after applying this ointment it's alright except for this one red spot that refuse to go away. My question is, is this balanitis and if so, can this be permanently cured or will it keep recurring whenever I use soap or shower gels. Is there any other complications and what could be the cause of this.

Please doctor I am very much devastated by this since I have been sufferring from this for the last two months.

I continued Mupirocin for another week. The small red spot is still not going and is in a semi circle form. Also I stopped it now after one week application and today morning I saw signs of redness around the base slowly returning. I also noticed some crack under the foreskin two days back but it quickly healed.

There is no itching or other irritation but when I wear underpants at times (not always) there is a small frozen or slight burning around the tip of the penis. There is no other symptoms like burning during urination or discharge etc.

I don't know what I should do now because though there is no discomfort as such this recurring redness and small red semi circle spot is bothering me a lot.

Thank you Doctor for your help. I got appointment with my doctor here only after 5 days. Is there anything I can buy over the counter in the meanwhile? One more thing I want to bring to your notice is that, the small semi circle red spot I mentioned to you appeared after I started mupirocin but now after I stopped it's slowly started becoming pale. Though the overall redness reduces with mupirocin could this have been some kind of side effect of using mupirocin.

Many thanks for your valuable suggestions

Thank you doctor. How long are these antibiotics to be continued and the dossage.

You had been great in your answers in alleviating my concerns

Hi Doctor,

I could not manage a prescription for the above medicine. However, I could get an appointment with the Urologist and he did a complete urine test and a urine culture. Urine test was normal except for rbc count which was 7-9 against a normal of 0-5 but the doctor said nothing abnormal about it. Also there was no bacterial growth in urine culture. Now the red semi circle spot which I was mentioning has completely gone but occassionaly the glans become red and then vanish. Whenever I go to the doctor it appears to be completely normal and since there is nothing in the urine report he said nothing to worry about. He said it could not be balanitis and adviced me not to wash it with hot water. I also notice that some time under the foreskin it cracks and heals quickly in a day. Doctor said it could be a candidal infection and prescribed me candidax cream to be applied on the glans twice daily for about 5 days.

Doctor, what would you advise and is it fine to apply this cream. As the urine culture did not show any bacterial growth is it correct there is no balanitis. I sometimes have slight numbness at the tip of my penis but at home when I don't wear underpants its perfectly normal and no such feelings.

Appreciate your valuable advise as always.

I have started using candidax and is showing good improvement and is almost back to normal. Doctor asked me to apply for 5 days should we stop after 5 days or continue for some more time to prevent recurrence like it happened with Mupirocin.

One last thing I want to clarify since its effective with candidax can it be concluded that this is candida infection. Reason why I am asking is because the initial redness and red spot had also disappeared with bacterial cream though some redness returned after some time. What could be the possible cause of this fungus infection.