Attempt to stop my recurring balanitis

[Tugboat]

Hi, new to the group. I am a 26 year old dude who has had balanitis on and off for around 1.5 years. For the last 3 months it has been constant and painful for the first time.

My symtoms are dry glans, red inflamed areas which mostly cover the entire corona. This can settle down but always is there and cant predict when it comes back.

Ive been prescribed a couple creams which overall probably made it worse even though they work short term. I can tell there has been some skin damage due to these. I really dont want to put any more cream on it. Since the last cream i have had a burning sensation for weeks but the glans didnt look particularly irritated if kept moist using vaseline.

So yesterday i decided to retract foreskin using a hair tie. My skin has trouble staying back but i managed it okay for now. I managed around 7 hours and then i couldnt keep it back when sleeping. Today it definitely feels less irritated but still looks red in areas, which is expected.

So, thats a summary of my story so far and would love to hear any stories positive or negative about curing balanitis as this is my main objective.

[konfied88]

Well, there are probably lots of guys here that came to the forum with the exact same or at least very similar problem - and I am one of them. In my case being pulled back brought a substantial decrease in inflamation, thought my case is mild I would say, cause I never had any pain or feeling of irritation, it was just the visual symptoms. Anyway, before I decided to pull back for, let's say, 18 hours out of every 24 of them, I used a lot of different creams that would work but only for some time and then I'd have to go back for another course of treatment. For few months now I have not had a need to use a cream - and that's exactly the same period that I kept my foreskin pulled back.

There is also a recent success story from itsonlymeheredw, you might check that out:
https://pulledback.org/index.php?topic=3016.0

[Tugboat]

Thats great to hear that it has helped clear up your balanitis. Would you say its is completely gone? And if so, when did you notice it having an effect?

Yeah, the creams are a double edge sword. My last attempt with cream definitely made my skin worse and was the first time i had any pain fron the area (which has mostly subsided now) im really hoping this helps.

Another thing did the friction being newly retracted irritate your balanitis?

[Will]

This was part of the reason I came here two years ago. Pulling back was a game changer. I also dropped the steroid creams and used a really pure MCT Coconut Oil which really seemed to help. The balanitis went after about a month of pulling back. No issues since. Good luck.

[Tugboat]

Great to hear. Was it on your glans or foreskin the balanitis?

[Will]

Hey again,
On the foreskin which got sore, red and tight.
Hope you have a good outcome too.
Will

[konfied88]

Thats great to hear that it has helped clear up your balanitis. Would you say its is completely gone? And if so, when did you notice it having an effect?

I don't remember precisely how long it took but I think it was similar to what Will described - about a month. I would hesitate to say it *completely* gone, just because it's been coming and going in my case for about two years so I don't really think I can be sure I got rid of it for good. And probably partly because of (past) balanitis, and partly because the glans dried a bit already after a couple of months of being uncovered - it obviously doesn't look exactly as it did before I started to have this little medical issue. I don't even mean the texture but slight discolorations of the skin (that, I imagine, might be there because of the previous inflamation) - but, well, I'm not a teenager anymore and my dick is a clear indication of that, in all the aspects, most of which I really like Anyway, I do think that being pulled back helps immensly.

Another thing did the friction being newly retracted irritate your balanitis?

Not that I noticed, no. Obviously, at the beginning the feeling is not ideal, but balanitis was not the cause of that.

[Kintsg]

Same exact reason why I am here.. seems like we are starting about the same time as well, so let's see how it goes!

I am a pretty extreme grower as well, so it took me a while to fashion a silicone ring that keeps me retracted, but it seems I managed to get there now!

It's been about a week now since I've been doing it on and off.

Findings so far:
Being pulled back is surprisingly comfortable and my penile skin certainly likes it.
I tried to nuke my penis with a wide array of antibiotics, antifungals etc. etc. to no avail, so quite likely it's just an inflammatory loop that got stuck somehow.
Pulling back basically I can avoid the hypersensitive tissues to rub against each other (glans and foreskin), and I like the clean, dry feel of my penis this way.
I found that recovery (after masturbation, when it gets somewhat inflamed / sore, especially if I don't use lube) is faster as well.

I will do my best and report back.
You're not alone brother, let's do it!

[Megatron]

Do you wash your glans and inner foreskin with soap? I have a couple friends who would deal with this and other issues because of the soap, they stopped and just rinsed off the head and inner foreskin with water and everything calmed down and after a while they didn't seem to have any issues.

[ThePiemel]

An old trick against balinitis is to use a bit of apple cider vinager. It does sting a bit but next it is almost like an instant cure. The infection usually is not an "alien" microbe, but one that is natural in skin, and for some reason exploded in population. Antibiotics would basically try to kill them. Which then could lead to a new infection later on. Apple cider vinager restores the natural balance in the skin. Give it a try!

[Tugboat]

Same exact reason why I am here.. seems like we are starting about the same time as well, so let's see how it goes!

I am a pretty extreme grower as well, so it took me a while to fashion a silicone ring that keeps me retracted, but it seems I managed to get there now!

It's been about a week now since I've been doing it on and off.

Findings so far:
Being pulled back is surprisingly comfortable and my penile skin certainly likes it.
I tried to nuke my penis with a wide array of antibiotics, antifungals etc. etc. to no avail, so quite likely it's just an inflammatory loop that got stuck somehow.
Pulling back basically I can avoid the hypersensitive tissues to rub against each other (glans and foreskin), and I like the clean, dry feel of my penis this way.
I found that recovery (after masturbation, when it gets somewhat inflamed / sore, especially if I don't use lube) is faster as well.

I will do my best and report back.
You're not alone brother, let's do it!

How has yours been since? Mine today, honestly has not looked as normal in a loong time without the use of moisturisers etc. Still not ideal a few areas of skin look sketchy but surprisingly good overall. Lets hope it keeps getting better.

Ive only been doing it for maybe 4 days and some of those were just for 3-4 hours too.

The inflammatory loop is something that rings a bell with me too, creams did more damage than good.

Only other thing is im trying not masturbate. If i do i dont have any contact with the glans just to give the skin the best chance to heal quickly.

We should keep eachother up to date on our journeys.

[Tugboat]

Do you wash your glans and inner foreskin with soap? I have a couple friends who would deal with this and other issues because of the soap, they stopped and just rinsed off the head and inner foreskin with water and everything calmed down and after a while they didn't seem to have any issues.

Unfortunately, i havent used soap in months but the issue continued. Thanks though.

[Tugboat]

An old trick against balinitis is to use a bit of apple cider vinager. It does sting a bit but next it is almost like an instant cure. The infection usually is not an "alien" microbe, but one that is natural in skin, and for some reason exploded in population. Antibiotics would basically try to kill them. Which then could lead to a new infection later on. Apple cider vinager restores the natural balance in the skin. Give it a try!

I will keep it as an option in the future. Thanks.

[Megatron]

Unfortunately, i havent used soap in months but the issue continued. Thanks though.

You're welcome and not everything works for everyone and thought I'd mention it because it was mentioned to me.

[ThePiemel]

Your skin hosts microbes, just like your whole body does. Don't let that scare you off. They are the "good guys". We need them. (There was a nice BBC page some time ago, to explain and count, if you want, I'll try and find the link to share here!)

Actually, a healthy body, when you just count the cells, contains about ten times more microbes than our own body cells. Don't let that scare you off. Our body cells are like the next model iphone while the microbes are like first model nokias. In total there is about one and a half kilo of microbes all over the place. Even in your brain.

The only scary part, which happens in rare cases, is to be completely without these good guys. Then any microbe you encounter could lead to a scary explosive reaction. Because they would have the whole place to themselves. In healthy situations they protect us though. We even exchange them with a handshake. Our bodies would not survive without them.

Almost all balanitis is an imbalance in the glans and or foreskin. It can happen with stress. It can happen while recovering from something like the flu. It can happen when chemicals are used a lot on it, like alcohol or possibly even too much soap to wash. Some of your good guys drop in population, and then some other have a party because they have the place to themselves.

So most of the cases it is not really a disease. It is your own good guys. Your glans turns red. Or pale white. And it might itch a bit. Worst it is for your marketing. Because your penis looks infected. In a way it is, but with a microbe we all carry. It is a good guys infection.

Antibiotics can temporarily cure it. But not take away the cause. They can even make the balance swing the other way and then your glans goes from a red infection to a white one.

When you pull back more, you grow a thicker skin. Thicker skins can handle more. So it becomes as probable to get another balanitis on your glans as it is to have one on your left thumb. Or the tip of your nose.

It still does not take away the cause. But the cause might have been stress because you had balanitis all the time. So you were maintaining it yourself all the time.

Better to keep it bare most of the time. Added bonus is this velvet layer. And goodbye to over sensitivity. Plus goodbye to balanitis.