Pulling back a solution for chronic balanitis?

[Aurobindo]

[img][img]Hi folks,

I am Patrick, 43 and a suffer frum a chronic balanitis (Zoon Balanitis in histology) since I am 20. I started after a fungal infection and I took the medication (antifungals + cortisone) to long. I am hypersensitive and any kind of friction is painful. I tried basically every topic therapy (calcineurin-inhibitors, Mupirocin, antifungal, linoic acid) and also eridium laser. Therapy always made things just much worse. Best way to manage the condition was to do nothing, no soap, reduce friction when having sex. After it got worse acute I am again searching for a definite solution. My dermatologist says, circumcision could be a solution. But I am afraid to do so, because if the hypersensitivity does not go away - I am fucked. Already the thought of beeing in underpants without my foreskin is painful. Now I found this forum and started to pull back since 5 days about 50 % of time ( just in bed and without underpants). Until now my pain is rather worse. Skin looks less inflammed but quite dry.
Is there anybody with similar experiences or knowledge that could help? I guess that symptoms would get worse was to be expected and I have to go through it, right? Would you let it be dry or go for an ointment or something?
Thanks for every feedback and the forum in general!

[burtonian]

Balanitis for virtually the whole of your adult life?  That's chronic indeed and you have my sympathy, and no doubt that of many other forum members who have also suffered.  But take heart, as you will read many of us have found retraction to be the solution.

First, a couple of questions; have you had your blood sugar levels checked, ideally after fasting?  This is to rule out diabetes contributing to your condition.  Is the inflammation limited to your glans or is the foreskin affected as well?  If so, and the foreskin is splitting/cracking you may need to treat this with a simple antiseptic cream whilst retracting to ensure splits heal slowly from the outside in, thus preventing your foreskin being tightened by scar tissue.  Now for the glans itself, you have already discovered that doing nothing helps, no more creams, drugs soap etc.  Do not use any retraction methods that introduce any possible irritants, such as taping.  Just pull back as often as you need to keep your glans exposed, briefs ( preferably not cotton) during the day may help to keep retracted and minimise friction.

Make sure your briefs are changed daily and do not use biological detergents or fabric softeners, this goes for your sheets if sleeping naked.  Any soreness due to friction or any swelling? Then stop retraction briefly, sometimes even a few hours will help.  Then start retraction again.  Do not worry about dryness, it is your new best friend, and avoid using moisturisers to counteract this;  it's sounds as if your treatments have left you hypersensitive and even the mildest ones may cause a reaction.

Final thought, if you can, try being naked around the house and garden.  This is not possible for me but I spend a lot of time in shorts either without briefs or in skimpy underwear to provide maximum ventilation.  Good luck!

[Aurobindo]

Thank you SO much for responding to my post. Really appreciate the time you sacificed to do so! Never checked my blood sugar levels. I am quite fit and sporty. During day my nutrition is very good, but in the evening I eat on average 150g of chocolate. I guess I would better let go of that habit... My foreskin is lightly affected. Some redness and hypersenitivity, but no cracks. Main thing is the glans.
I do have al ot of soreness due to friction, but no swelling. Got the results of a second histology today. The doc says, there are signes of inflammation but, they do not really correlate to the subjective pain I have. I already follow your advice to be naked as often as possible. What do you mean exactly with "briefs"? Underwear? Sorry, I am not a native speaker. Thanks for assuring me to nor worrying about dryness. Do you see a chance to overcome this completly? Until now I actually retracted the foreskin with tape. What would you do as a grower? Thanks again!

[N1994]

Sleeping naked and freeballing will help, also ensure you wash your dick with cold water thoroughly. I would also suggest a daily massage for relief

[ThePiemel]

Give it 30 days more. A glans wants to be outside but some glanses are just too scary. It will most likely get rid of all the ballanitis. Your glans is a normal part of your body and supposed to feel like that. Let it breathe free air a bit longer.

[bareuncut]

OP: You should see a general Urologist soon. You may have prostate infection (Prostatitis). Also ask for full STD panel culture including Trichomoniasis and DNA amplification for Chlamydia Trachomatis.

[bartendaz]

How long have you been eating the 150 grams of chocolate? I have seen medical articles and reasearch pointing to cacao/chocolate as one of main source of cadmium and to limit consumption somewhat. Can it be heavy metal poisoning? If there is a heavy metal testing maybe you can check your levels, but either way there is not much to be done even if they are elevated apart of discarding the main sources(food/drink items) from diet to avoid further increase in damage and symptoms.

Thank you SO much for responding to my post. Really appreciate the time you sacificed to do so! Never checked my blood sugar levels. I am quite fit and sporty. During day my nutrition is very good, but in the evening I eat on average 150g of chocolate. I guess I would better let go of that habit... My foreskin is lightly affected. Some redness and hypersenitivity, but no cracks. Main thing is the glans.
I do have al ot of soreness due to friction, but no swelling. Got the results of a second histology today. The doc says, there are signes of inflammation but, they do not really correlate to the subjective pain I have. I already follow your advice to be naked as often as possible. What do you mean exactly with "briefs"? Underwear? Sorry, I am not a native speaker. Thanks for assuring me to nor worrying about dryness. Do you see a chance to overcome this completly? Until now I actually retracted the foreskin with tape. What would you do as a grower? Thanks again!

[Aurobindo]

Thank you very much guys for your posts!

OP: You should see a general Urologist soon. You may have prostate infection (Prostatitis). Also ask for full STD panel culture including Trichomoniasis and DNA amplification for Chlamydia Trachomatis.

May I ask what exactly makes you think in this direction? I already saw several Urologists. Thank you!

[burtonian]

Hi Patrick,  sorry for the delay in responding to your post.  Yes, 150g of chocolate seems excessive, especially if it is the high sugar low cocoa solids type..  As a diabetic  I stick to the 70% plus cocoa solids dark varieties and in much smaller quantities.  This is one indulgence where quality is better than quantity.  I guess you would have to consume a lot of cocoa products containing cadmium etc. to be affected and wonder wether the research actually identified anyone affected.  I am reminded that Brazil nuts and bananas are slightly radioactive yet we still eat them with impunity.

Briefs?  Imagine the type of swimwear the Aussies call budgie smugglers and you will get the idea.  Or picture Tom Daly the Olympic diver in his working uniform.  As a grower I found snug fitting briefs helped to maintain my retraction either when just pulled back or using the spoon method; man made fibre ones breath far better than cotton ones.  Nowadays, I can keep retracted, using the spoon tuck, while free balling.  Very pleasant but not something I do often.  You do not say where you are geographically, I am in the UK and have used briefs from kiniki.co.uk as my go to for initial training, see their Allure range.  I confess to getting a 'naughty' kick out of wearing these when out and about.  I imagine what would be the reaction if people knew that this married, straight guy in his 70s was not only pulled back but was wearing see through briefs.  A harmless kink I think.  BTW, your English is excellent.

[hamster7000]

hi Patrick,

i am not a medical professional, so my advice is to always seek validation of online health information by a professional.

My knowledge is that you should try to keep your penis clean from urine. Some autoimmune conditions can be triggered when inflammation/injury on the penis is in contact with urine.

If you have access to a sink you can do a quick rinse with water after each time you pee or try to put something like petroleum jelly/vaseline to serve as barrier between your skin and the urine.

Hope you will be able to get a diagnose and make a full recovery soon.