1 week progress

[don15]

Hey everyone!

My English isn't great so sorry if it will be a bit hard to read.
First some backstory. I have never-ending balanitis for close to 2 years. Several sugar tests came out great. Six different dermatologists and urologist failed to treat it. As pills and creams weren't helping I stopped damaging my skin any further. So every evening I would wash my glans only with water, then I would dry it with paper towel. Balanitis symptoms were really swinging. Usually in the morning it would be just slightly red, in the evening it would get worse. One evening the redness would be really mild, another evening it would be really red. I also noticed something. When symptoms would be bad in the evening I would wash the glans as usual. Then after like 4-5 hours the symptoms would be much better. Such scenarios would repeat very often. Then one week symptoms became extra bad. Even in the morning the redness would be bright red, skin texture would be different and the problematic area would be moist (healthy areas would be quite dry). After washing the glans those symptoms would also get better. One morning redness was terrible, I washed the glans and at midday it looked like there was no balanitis at all. Those variations and swings are really weird. I was putting off auto-circumcision but when balanitis got worse I started pulling back next day.
So my glans was very sensitive however my underwear helped. Those were just slightly tight and the front was giving nice stability which holds everything in place, more or less. After few days the tip of the glans (meatus?) got irritated, slightly swollen. Now it seems to be the most sensitive area. The glans got flaky, there is some peeling but I read it's normal. I just wonder how long it will take. I am adding a photo of my glans. A lower half of my glans is slighty red/darker. That's the area where balanitis was occurring most of the time. I wonder if balanitis still active or it's just aftermath. I hope it will fade away eventually.
Would love to hear your thoughts about my situation.

Thanks!

[jdm]

Everything looks normal to me.

[don15]

I have new photos today. I have some questions if you/someone could answer. I am new to this so not sure when it's normal and when something might be wrong.
1. Today had more peeling and it felt more irritating. Is that normal? I would guess it is as those longer flakes could be grabbing my underwear.
2. In new photos you can see a spot where skin peeled off deeper. Does it happen to people often?
3. In photos it doesn't really show much but the lower half of the head got a bit more redness (the same area was affected by balanitis all the time). Also it feels like that same area peeled off the most and is more sensitive/irritated than before. Could this be because new skin under is more sensitive?

Maybe I am too paranoid but it's just that I haven't read about such scenarios.

[don15]

Oh and I noticed that in the evening like a few hours after washing the redness reduces a bit. Hope I'm wrong but it feels like balanitis could be still active. Maybe someone has experience with similar situation?

[Nivek]

It does look really dry. I hope someone who has experience can shed some light on this...

[Kylar]

I never had this, but I've been messing around with it for a very long time... But I've heard people mentioning that the glans would peel when they started leaving it retracted; seems like it happens to some people and not to others, I don't think there's anything to worry about just yet.

[don15]

Yea some sort of peeling is normal I just wonder if deeper peeling is normal or its a problem. Also I see it peels a lot in the balanitis area. This area is also slightly red. Maybe people who had strong balanitis would chip in to say if its normal.

[don15]

The view in the morning.

[camchain]

Put some moisturising cream on it, It will help with the dry skin. keep it moist..

[don15]

Thought about moisturizing but I also read that it might affect the progress?

[don15]

I never had this, but I've been messing around with it for a very long time... But I've heard people mentioning that the glans would peel when they started leaving it retracted; seems like it happens to some people and not to others, I don't think there's anything to worry about just yet.

Yes peeling is quite normal, however, I'm concerned the most because probably 90% of the peeling is happening in the area where balanitis was (maybe is). And it's at least a 2nd peel there already.

[jdm]

It all looks quite normal to me.

You should understand that balanitis is a generic term for inflammation of the glans penis. This can be caused by many things, including retraction. Your glans is not used to all this exposure, and direct contact with surfaces other than the foreskin, which ordinarily protects it from all that. Retraction can help with reliving balanitis from other causes, like fungal or bacterial infections, but it can also cause inflammation on it's own. If you have something like that, then you might want to treat it with other methods as well as retraction. For example, if you have a fungal infection, then you could treat it with an antifungal cream. This might help it get better more quickly, and also might function as a moisturizer, providing some relief from the sudden dryness. If you have a bacterial infection, perhaps an antibiotic cream would be a good choice, and do the same. If you're not sure if you have any type of infection then you can just go with the retraction by itself, or try either of those creams, and see what happens. You might also consider using a probiotic cream, which might be helpful no matter which type of infection you might have. Because the beneficial bacteria can help to ward off the bad bacteria and fungus.

[don15]

Thanks for the informative reply.
The thing is no one (6 dermatologists) know what is the cause. The redness was way worse than is now so retraction helped, however the problem area (balanitis area) is still slightly red. I guess almost 2 years of inflammation and chemicals could have damaged the skin. That same area peeled/peeling the most. Im just not sure if this still could be active balanitis or the redness is normal and temporary. I guess will keep pulled back. I just thought someone with balanitis had similar experience.