Brief Answer:
Maintain hygiene and treat partner.

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

Welcome and thanks for posting your query to the forum.

I can understand your concern for the present situation.

After reading your complete query with diligence I can make out that you have normal usual kind of itching with mild candidal (fungal) infection of the penis area.

Before I proceed to your condition, let you understand some medical facts-

More specifically this is related to the hygiene especially in uncircumcised males and sometimes in circumcised males too. It is more common to find moist area at glans penis and frenulum (skin covering the glans penis) area which favors the mild to moderate growth of germs.

Fungal infections are also common type of infections which can affect moist areas (as in your case). The fungus can be grown directly in an individual or can be more commonly because of infection from the partner.

So in case of unprotected sexual intercourse if the area is not washed properly or later on if the hygiene is not maintained properly anybody can get the infection again. So the same thing is in your case too.

For the management of the same kindly follow the suggestions below:

- Wash your penile area for two times in a day. You can use a mild soap to wash the area. Wash it very gently but properly. If you are uncircumcised then it is quite important to retract your skin fully backwards and then wash the area.

- After every sexual intercourse too, wash the area properly. I personally suggest you to use protection in form of condoms during every intercourse.

- It is quite very important to check for infection in your partner too. If your partner has white discharge then it is the most common cause of recurrent infection. In all the cases of candidal infection we always treat the partner. So get your partner treated for the same.

- Wear cotton undergarments. Change these two times a day. Do not wear any synthetic or tight garments.

- First try to do above measure. If there is still some irritation then I suggest my patients to apply latest anti-fungal creams such as "Sertaconazole" or "Luliconazole" or "Amorolfine" and take latest anti-fungal tablets according to medical advise. Sometimes there is resistance to the clotrimazole, so the latest antifungals helps in completely eradicating the infection.

For itching I prefer Loratadine ( Claritin or Dazit or Alaspan or Lorfast) in my patients as it is very simple medicine without any side effects of sedation. it can be taken for two times for mild to moderate irritation.

Overall it is nothing to be worried about. It is a common condition which we see quite often in our day to day practice. With good hygiene maintenance of self and partner it can be taken care of very easily.

I hope this clears all your doubts. Tell me if you have any further quires.

Wish you good health
with regards,
Dr. Sanjay Kumar Kanodia
(MD - Skin & Sexually Transmitted Diseases)

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