Went to a dermatologist recently and he pretty much said there's nothing that can be done about the skin atrophy, redness, and burning except to use an emmoilient and hope it heals. He basically said to get over it. I wish I had just saved my money. I'm doing everything I can to make this heal, started taking cod oil for the omega 3 fatty acids, vitamin a, and vitamin d, and trying to do whatever I find that's good for the skin. The burning sensation is still persistent and sucks pretty bad.
If there is ever a doctor who reads this I hope you take note of what people are saying here and quit prescribing steroids for conditions that DONT need steroids. I'd rather have the fungal infection I had back than deal with this any day. I thought an experienced medical professional's recommendation for treating a simple jock itch infection could be trusted, I was dead wrong. I'll personally never trust another doctor again after this.
hi guys, im the person who started this thread but forgot my password to my old account so could not log on. Im still suffering these symptoms and my mental health is a major concern at the moment, i've been steroid free for quite a long time around 11 months and I have now been using Dr Wheatgrass cream for just over 3 months, im not sure if its helping or not I really dont know, ive been told to use it for another 3 months but im doubtful it will help. I keep trying to give up masturbation until this heals but usually only last about 2-3 weeks, when i have an erection is when the symptoms are worse as capillaries are visible on my penis glans and my foreskin. Please let me knows if anything works for you guys, im going to contact a homeopath next week to see if that can help at all. Im only 19 and this is getting to the point where its pretty much destroying my life, about 75% of the time I would say im ok just not trying to think about it. Im reasonably healthy diet wise already but am thinking of maybe cutting out dairy or something like that to see if my diet could be linked to my condition.
I've used several prescribed steroid creams to try and get rid of some irritation on my penis head. Inittialy the inflamation went down so I assumed the creams were working. However, ever since when I get a erection my penis head apperas very shiny, wrinkly and red in appearance. I have been to many doctors and they always say it seems fine but i know it is not as I know my own body. Can anyone advise a way of how I can get back to normal. SOme people have said abstaining from mastubation or sex will eventually let the skin heal. Its been about 4-5 months since I last used any steroid cream on my penis, but I've only managed to not masturbate for around 2 weeks. Will this eventually recover if I just leave my penis alone for as long as possible?
I tell you exactly what happened and how to resolve this:
Corticosteroids not only releive imflamation but they also thin the skin. I gather you're circumcised cause the cream thinnned the skin of your glans and also dekeratinized plenty. Keratinization occurs with circumcised men over time and toughens the glans up.
Basically your glans is close to what an uncircumcised glans feels and looks like.
To solve this problem if simply carrying on with life and masturabte more to keratinize the skin back also wearing no underwear will speed it up too.
I'm uncut I would never use a corticosteroid on my gland unless my doc told me to
Went to a dermatologist recently and he pretty much said there's nothing that can be done about the skin atrophy, redness, and burning except to use an emmoilient and hope it heals. He basically said to get over it. I wish I had just saved my money. I'm doing everything I can to make this heal, started taking cod oil for the omega 3 fatty acids, vitamin a, and vitamin d, and trying to do whatever I find that's good for the skin. The burning sensation is still persistent and sucks pretty bad.
If there is ever a doctor who reads this I hope you take note of what people are saying here and quit prescribing steroids for conditions that DONT need steroids. I'd rather have the fungal infection I had back than deal with this any day. I thought an experienced medical professional's recommendation for treating a simple jock itch infection could be trusted, I was dead wrong. I'll personally never trust another doctor again after this.
Yes the same thing all the doctors have told me too.
Im now using bionect carefully on the glans and the foreskin and see if it will help some. So far i have noticed no improvements but i havnīt used it for very long maybe 2 weeks and not every day. I hate this, but their is nothing you can do about it, maybe pay like 4000 euros and put some fat in to it, maybe it looks more normal again, and circumcise. But who the hell want to do that anyway.
Thanks for the update guy202, hope the bioconnect works for you. Please keep us posted.
@heathenpower - hang in there man. I've been doing some research on topical steroid withdrawal and it is temporary. What I have read from people who have gone though this is that it can sometimes take 2-3 years to heal completely and depends on the potency of steroid, location, and length of time used. I'm only in month 2 and it sucks man, but I am trying to do some things to help alleviate the symptoms. I've found that going swimming or soaking in water for 15-30 minutes can help for a little while. I was using vaseline, aquaphor, or vanicreme a few times a day but have cut back and sometimes it seems that using a moisturizer less is better, guess it depends on how bad the symptoms are. Also the fewer ingredients the better usually, most lotions have a long list of ingredients and usually contain something that is going to irritate damaged skin. I ordered a cream recently called egyptian magic that is supposed to help with dermatitis, will let you all know if it helps. Also, been taking fish oil 2-3 grams per day, eating more protein, 5-10 grams biotin, 50-100 mg zinc, 10-15 mg astaxanthin, and a multivitamin daily and trying to eat an anti-inflammatory type of diet. I also ordered l-arginine, supposed to help increase blood flow. I've been exercising almost every day too, mostly cardio and swimming. I’ve seen what I hope is a bit of improvement but still experiencing a constant burning sensation, redness and swelling of corona. There is an antibiotic that can sometimes help called doxycycline. If you search for "doxycycline red scrotum syndrome" you'll find the study. If you want to do some research try using the terms "red skin syndrome", "topical steroid withdrawal", and "topical steroid addiction". I'm pretty sure that's what we’re going through. Keep us posted on your progress man.
A Dr. once told me that if you used strong (prescription) steroid creme on your nose every day for like a year or more it will "rot your nose off". I hope he was wrong.
I don't know if it works for you guys, but I had a scalding burn on my finger a while back. I used raw store bought honey and applied it liberally every day as often as needed. It took the pain and was incredibly soothing. Today it's impossible to notice anything ever happened.
You can also try an aloe vera cream, though I'd try honey first.
Ensure you have the right nutrients for your body to rebuild optimally. This means staying away from foods with estrogen-like hormones, and eating a lot of veggies. Fruits are ok too. Meat, dairy and grain should be consumed in small quantities.
Stay away from processed and manufactured foods.
Take a multi vitamin each day.
Get some exercise every day. Moving your body does more than burn calories, it stimulates your entire endocrine system.
I would stay away from putting creams and other topical agents (aside from honey and certified aloe vera) on your penis when trying to let it heal. Many lotions, even those designed for allergic hyper sensitive people, contain chemicals that can hinder wound healing.
Disclaimer: Store bought raw honey may contain spores that might aggravate a wound. That wasn't my experience though, and it is possible to buy special manuka honey from new zealand meant for medical use with superior wound healing abilities. Since you're just using it as a lotion, that's hardly worth the extra expense. Besides, even regular raw honey has antimicrobial properties.
Hey guy202, just wondering how the bionect is working for you? Does it cause any irritation? I was thinking about trying a Hyaluronic Acid Serum. I found this study - Hyaluronate Fragments Reverse Skin Atrophy by a CD44-Dependent Mechanism. Basically says that the hyaluronate thickens the skin caused from steroid atrophy. I know it will take some time for it to work but just wondering what your experience with it so far has been.
Hey guy202, just wondering how the bionect is working for you? Does it cause any irritation? I was thinking about trying a Hyaluronic Acid Serum. I found this study - Hyaluronate Fragments Reverse Skin Atrophy by a CD44-Dependent Mechanism. Basically says that the hyaluronate thickens the skin caused from steroid atrophy. I know it will take some time for it to work but just wondering what your experience with it so far has been.
Hello, not much has happend. No irritation so far , i used it on the glans and thought i maybe become a little bit more sensitive so takes a small break to not risk anything, but maybe im just imagine that. But im still using it on the foreskin and canīt really see any improvements, but i think i only will use it their for a while.
Hi, im still using the wheatgrass cream but dont really think its doing much, im thinking of ordering something called Egyptian magic cream not sure if it will do any good or not. Researching this issue is hard as the information is very confusing. I've been trying to find some pictures to compare my situation too but cant seem to find any. I know this sounds horrible but have any of you uploaded any pictures of your condition anywhere? it would help to be able to compare conditions with someone. I have also heard about Doxycycline but am unsure of where to get any from
i've been thinking of maybe looking into some surgical procedures to get the skin back to normal and remove the scarring, im willing to pay alot of money to get this sorted and my life back on track, the various creams i've used to try and heal this have done nothing and it looks horrible. Has anyone else had the same thoughts
Last edited by Mod-S4; 08-10-2012 at 09:48 PM.
Reason: 2 posts merged.
Hey man, I got the Egyptian magic, it's a good moisturizer and doesn't cause any irritation, I don't think it's a cure though. There's another cream out there called emuaid that is a bit more expensive but could be worth looking into. I haven't uploaded any pictures, have you? The doxycycline you have to get through a prescription. In the study where the red scrotum syndrome was cured the people took 100 mg 2x/day for one month then 100 mg once a day for 1-2 more months. Doxycycline is also used for steroid induced rocasea. I think it would be worth giving a shot before surgery. I think I had mentioned this before but the doctor who wrote the research article about red skin syndrome caused from topical steroids is Dr. Marvin Rapaport. You can find out more by looking up the International Topical Steroid Addiction Network. Dr. Rapaport is one of the only dermatologists willing to come out and say that steroids are causing more harm than good in many cases, especially when they've been used longer than the steroids should have been. If you're willing to travel he may be a good doctor to see about this.
hi, im in the UK so don't think I would be able to visit that doctor. I have looked up the Steroid network and has provided some help. I've ordered some of that Egyptian magic cream and am still using the Wheatgrass cream, I have an appointment with a homeopath coming up and a further doctors appointment to then get a referral to a specialist. I may ask about Doxycycline. And il look up that other cream. Cheers for your help.
yeah i am unsure about surgery im not sure what would help, but there has to be something
I really hope so. Im actually sending some email to a lots of plastic surgery clinics right now, but usually their isnīt any doctors answering this, just nurses.
ive just read the big study by dr rapaport on red skin syndrome but its very hard to find information about the condition on the penis, i do not suffer from the symptoms such as burning or itching, there is no pain. The cure on that study seems to be just not doing much and letting the skin heal, but im not sure if this applies to the penis as well due to this area having a much higher absortion rate of the steroid cream, its really hard to find consistent information on this
Last edited by Mod-S4; 08-10-2012 at 09:51 PM.
Reason: 2 posts merged.
ive just read the big study by dr rapaport on red skin syndrome but its very hard to find information about the condition on the penis, i do not suffer from the symptoms such as burning or itching, there is no pain. The cure on that study seems to be just not doing much and letting the skin heal, but im not sure if this applies to the penis as well due to this area having a much higher absortion rate of the steroid cream, its really hard to find consistent information on this
Yeah if i only could get the red colour go away i think i could accept my condition actually. But i got no itching and no pain. The redness is because the skinned has become thinner i think, in my case anyway.
my main problem is how the skin looks and sorry for the details but it looks really bad when i get an erection and even worse after masturbation, if i could get that problem sorted i think i could accept my condition, im not sure if the main problem is being caused due to the fact that i do have some scarring down there or the side effects of the steroid creams, i think its a combination of both, as i had a problem before i applied the creams its hard to definitively tell
Yeah if I could get the burning, swelling, and redness to go away that would be great. It sucks pretty bad, been three months for me so far and no improvements. Doctors think I'm crazy or just imagining this, they have no idea what hell the side effects topical steroids put people through. I'm not sure where to go from here. Be careful with surgery guys, who knows what a doctor would do with a knife down there, fk that. I'm just trying to be healthy, take vitamins for the skin, apply a non-irritating moisterizer when I can, and hope that this this will heal.
Last edited by gator12; 08-12-2012 at 05:59 AM.
Reason: Delete sentence
Yeah if I could get the burning, swelling, and redness to go away that would be great. It sucks pretty bad, been three months for me so far and no improvements. Doctors think I'm crazy or just imagining this, they have no idea what hell the side effects topical steroids put people through. I'm not sure where to go from here. Be careful with surgery guys, who knows what a doctor would do with a knife down there, fk that. I'm just trying to be healthy, take vitamins for the skin, apply a non-irritating moisterizer when I can, and hope that this this will heal.
Yes but my skin wonīt heal that for sure it is like 9 months now i have seen no improvement for atleast 6 months. If there is anything to do it has to be some kind of surgery. But i really dont know where i should go and ask for help.
Re: penis damage from steroid creams 
