How I cured my balanitis after 1 year (theory & practical plan with steps included)
Hi everyone,
I've been cleared of balanitis for about 6 months now (after suffering for 1 year), so it's safe to say I am cured permanently. I didn't want to write this earlier because I've come across too many posts in which OP said they fixed their balanitis, only to read further down the comments that it came back a few weeks later. But after 6 months, now is the time.
This sub has really been my lifeline during the more intense and depressing periods, so I want to give something back. I hope this can help someone against this terrible affliction.
I have a lot to say, but I will first just state what most of you probably want to know: how I got cured. However, if you have the time, please read on afterwards as the actual ointments that cured me might not cure you, but I believe my theory and practical plan can help almost anyone.
My cure was:
- 2 weeks of Vobaderm 1 mg/g + 20 mg/g (morning and evening)
- 8 weeks of La Roche-Posay Lipikar AP+m (microbiome) (mornings, and after every shower, and after any and all sexual acts)
This sounds simple, but it was far from it, and it took me 11 months to figure out, 11 months of hard work in which fixing this issue was my #1 priority. Below is my story and everything that I tried to get to where I am today. You can skip the story if you're not interested, but please read on below, which is the most important part of this post: my theory and practical plan that anyone can implement. However, with the background story it might be more logical.
My story:
Out of nowhere, my foreskin started to have red patches. I think, looking back now, that I got this due to washing my glans with warm water in a hot country, and not drying properly before covering my glans again. Water in boilers can be kept at high temperatures for a long time, which is then an amazing place for microorganisms to grow. (So please wash your glans with cold water and dry properly before re-covering with your foreskin. I do this now.) However, we will never find out for sure what is the actual cause, so I consider this not so important. Sure, do the STI tests, but don't obsess over it. Anyway, back to the story. These red patches of the foreskin very quickly led to a completely red foreskin and lower glans, in a matter of a week really. This is when I figured out I need help.
I will now break my timeline down in bullet points, per medicine/ointment tried.
- Went to a doc (Doc A), and he told me to get a full STD test and gave me a steroid cream. This cream removed the redness and itching after about 3-5 days. The test came back negative (both inside the urethra and on the glans). I thought okay well, it was a fluke, it's fixed now. But no: in a few weeks time the redness came back. This time I found some dark tiny spots on my glans, which then grew and turned the whole glans red. So it started differently but the end result was the same.
- Went back to Doc A and this time he gave me Candibene (clotrimazol 1%). I put it on 1-2 times a day for about 10 days. Continued masturbating as normal, while the cream was on (kind of as lube). This again removed redness and itchiness after 4-5 days, but I did notice a decrease in sensitivity when masturbating, especially around the head ridge. Still, the cream seemed to help, so I stopped with the cream after 10 days and hoped for the best.
- I then had sex with a condom on (and loads of aloe vera lube on the inside of the condom). This hurt quite a bit (bad sign). So afterwards put the cream on 1 last time, left it overnight, and washed off next day. Then, 2 days later, I masturbated with spit for lube. The day after that, large red patches appeared, mostly on my glans but also on my foreskin at the same time. (lots of people online seem to think the friction causes these flare ups, which I agree with). So I put the cream again and the redness went away again, but my foreskin was getting too thin from the Candibene, so I stopped with the cream. Then the redness and itchiness came back again.
This was the second time my doc gave me something that just cost money and didn't actually seem to treat the root cause of my problem. This is also around the time I stopped trusting doctors (this is an important point which I will get back to in the chapter on theory / practical plan).
- So, also on the basis of many posts on this sub, I slowly switched to shea butter/vaseline. Over time I switched completely to shea butter. Did that for a good 6-8 weeks. I sometimes got red spots but they would always go away with a bit of shea butter/vaseline. Felt pretty good, but noticed my glans becoming very dry if I didn’t put the shea butter for a day or two. So I wanted to stop using the moisturisers. I decided to slowly use less and less to try to get rid of the need to use it completely. I started by not putting anything on the glans anymore, only on the foreskin. But after a week or two, the redness came back, this time with itching.
- Then I tried something that is called "wundcreme" here (German word). This is an ointment you put on scrapes and stuff, and it has some antibacterial properties. I felt apprehensive about using this, because I feel the glans and foreskin are very sensitive areas and I didn't want to ruin nerve endings or whatever. Anyway, it helped for a bit, but the redness came back.
- So I decided to go back to Doc A for the 3rd time. This time he looked at me with a certain weariness (like "this guy again"), thought for a bit and them told me to buy something called Deumavan creme and Deumavan wash lotion. It seemed a bit weird that he would just come up with that out of thin air without even looking at my foreskin but alright, I was willing to try everything. However, this Deumavan did literally nothing except make everything moist. (Sidenote: Doc A also said to not use normal condoms anymore, no latex as it might cause this. Well, I tried 3-4 different condom types, one even more expensive than the next, but it didn't change anything, at least for me.)
At this post I lost complete faith in doctors. Felt like all of medicine was a scam for money, and they don't actually treat you.
- So I scoured this sub and tried everything recommended here: coconut oil, olive oil, even yoghurt (with and without probiotics). These all seemed to work for a bit (reduced itchiness mostly), but redness and itchiness came back after a few days, sometimes even while using these things. I also changed my diet. Added more curcuma, omega 3s, etc, etc. Probably good for my general health, but no effect on my balanitis.
- I was desperate at this point, but I realized I needed a real cure, not home remedies. However, I wasn't gonna go back to Doc A, so then I tried different docs. Went to about 4 of them, and eventually found one that was extremely meticulous (Doc E). She made me do test after test with her in-house laboratory personnel (both for inside the urethra and on the foreskin/glans), for about everything you can imagine. This lab was also miles ahead of where I went earlier, not in terms of machinery but in terms of patient care. The woman doing the tests took time to look at my balanitis, theorized with me what it could be, etc., etc., and eventually SHE was the one who proposed to cut a small part of my foreskin open and sample that. Well, that was the test that finally came back positive. I was exhilarated. But what it was: Candida. My hopes sank back down, because I was already treated for that at the very beginning by Doc A, on his hunch. However, when I told Doc E this, she listened and thought about what else we could try. She offered another cream against candida, but stronger, and if that didn't work we could go with pills. Doc E was incredibly logical and tactical. No guessing, just step by step, until everything was ruled out and tried out.
- This was when she gave me the Vobaderm that eventually cured me, but that is not how the story ends. I applied it for one week as she told me to, and it worked, but after I stopped the redness came back again, and with a vengeance. It even started to become yellow, extremely painful and with some pus. I went back to Doc E, and she said okay, we will do the same test again. Went back to her lab, had the same test of the foreskin done again. While waiting for the results, Doc E proposed to do the Vobaderm, but this time for 2 weeks, to be absolutely sure every last Candida was obliterated. Why not.
- Vobaderm, 2 weeks. Redness and itchiness disappeared after a few days, but I continued blasting my foreskin with this chemical cream. Probably, it completely obliterated every single living thing that was down there. However, after about 10 days, my foreskin was basically crumbling and hurt like hell. Still, I didn't want to stop on the off-chance that these extra few days were my cure.
- Still, my foreskin hurt like hell so I scoured this sub again, this time for thin foreskin treatments, and found this post: La Roche Posay Lipikar AP+M : r/balanitis. This guy saved me. The post sounded a lot like product placement, but I thought okay why the fuck not. I finished my 14 days of the Vobaderm, at the end of which my dick looked like a warzone and I almost couldn't touch it for the pain. But I had a plan: when the treatment was over, I immediately started applying the Lipikar, and within 3 days everything was back to normal. Foreskin looked great, feeling came back, everything was good. This time, it stayed that way.
- A week later or so I went back to Doc E as my last test results were in, and I was curious. Well, what do you think? Test came back negative for candida (but positive for Staphylococcus, so that was the yellow pus was). Essentially, the cream worked the first time, but because it dries and thins out the skin so much, the skin gets super prone to new infections. That's why I was only healed when I immediately went with the Lipikar afterwards.
Theory:
I've noticed that there are basically two camps on this sub:
Only doctors can fix this disease.
Doctors know nothing, you should try home remedies.
My theory combines these two. The fact that I was healed of Candida even before I put the Lipikar proves that these creams the docs gave me actually did work (heck, maybe even the Candibene that Doc A gave me in the very beginning worked). However, this is only half of the story. Because these chemical creams screw up your microbiome so much, you need another cream to fix that, because otherwise the skin just catches another infection immediately afterwards. Then you get into an endless cycle. So this is where home remedies come in. I would opt for the Lipikar, as it's been the best of all home remedies that I've tried (I've tried coconut oil, olive oil, shea butter, vaseline, yoghurt, Deumavan, "wundcreme", and finally; Lipikar).
I don't know why doctors themselves don't tell us this, but it's clear to me that it's not enough to just treat the infection itself. You need to treat the infection AND the damaged skin. Still, no doctor I've heard of ever told this to me or to anyone I spoke to about balanitis treatments. It's weird, but it is how it is. So you need to (1) trust doctors to find and clear the infection, and (2) trust yourself to heal your damaged skin FAST, before a new infection can get a grip.
(Note: Why I think Lipikar is the best is basically that it actually heals the skin microbiome, that is what the product is based on and it's exactly what you need after applying such a chemical cream. Other creams (such as Deumavan) only maintain the microbiome, but don't heal it permanently in my experience.)
Practical plan (with steps to follow):
Now, my story is nice, but n=1. I'm only one data point. Because my test came back positive for Candida doesn't mean that everyone with Balanitis has that. So to actually find out what you have, it's vital that you go to a good doctor, find out what it is, and go from there. If they test you and it comes back negative for everything, then that test wasn't it. You need to test again, in a different way. I searched for a good Doc and a good lab that meticulously tried everything until they found the cause, eventually by a hunch of the lab assistant (by basically performing a biopsy, although that sounds scarier than it actually was, as it was very undeep and not even that painful).
So here are the steps to follow to get rid of this shit:
Step 1: Find a good doc. You need to find someone who tests, tests, tests. A good doc takes a look at the afflicted area every time you come in, theorizes, and have you do tests on the basis of their hypothesis of what it is. Unfortunately, most do this tihnkin in their heads and don't tell you about it, so you have to ask. They get annoyed by that, but it's vital they prove to you that they actually go about this in a structured, logical way. If you get a doc that prescribes you things based on his guesses, leave and go to the next doctor. (Sidenote: funny enough the female urologists/dermatologists I've encountered were much better than the male ones, but it could be a fluke of the small sample size).
Step 2: When your doc finally finds out what it is, they will prescribe a cure (probably a cream). Take that cream EXACTLY as the doc tells you. Not a day shorter or longer.
Step 3: Order or buy the Lipikar so that you have it when you are done with applying the cream. Immediately after your last application, start with the Lipikar. Every morning and evening, after every shower, after every sexual act (incl. masturbation). It's expensive but worth it.
(Step 3b: If your balanitis comes back during this time, don't fret, this is to be expected. Go back to the doc. First the original one, but if it happens too often or you get the feeling that they don't actually go about this in a structured, logical manner (like my Doc A), find another one and tell that doc your entire medical story, incl. which creams you tried. I.e. after this step, go back to Step 1.)
Step 4: If everything stays good, continue with the Lipikar for 8 weeks. After that, apply it a little bit less every week. First stop with the morning application, then stop with the evening application and only apply it after showers. Then, after some showers, still apply the Lipikar, while after others you just dry off your glans and cover with your foreskin. Then after a week or two do that after every shower. So then you only apply it after sex. Finally, stop applying the Lipikar after sexual acts. This is the last step, because friction can cause flare ups. So only start doing this when you're absolutely certain it's not coming back.
This guide took me hours to write, and months of research, trial and error on myself. I hope this helps someone.