Update on final cleanup
I've not been particularly diligent at using treatments these past few months. Apart from the occasional use of Tea Tree Oil, I haven't really been using anything. That being said, I am still noticing extremely but steady improvement on my glans. the place where I still have the worst covering of white BXO skin is on the base of the glans, where urine naturally gravitates toward after dribbling. This was probably the thickest covering all along.
Measuring the progress of this late recovery is challenging. To measure how much white skin I have requires a reasonable amount of blood flow to my glans. Without that, there's little contrast between the different areas. But Tea Tree Oil tends to promote blood flow anyway, so it gives the impression that progress is happening faster than it perhaps is.
I am trying to not to fixate over progress too much, and just focus on the basics - after urination, dry, dry, then dry some more. Even then, I will occasionally check to make sure none has leaked out. I also ensure I clean thoroughly in the shower, and also try to tighten my PC muscles whenever I remember.
I've noticed the readership of this blog has dropped right back, and this appears to coincide with the frequency of my posting/updates reducing. Perhaps by posting regularly I boost the blog's rank in search engines. If this is the case, then I may need to consider other approaches to boost that rank. All the information on this blog is of no use to someone who is suffering but can't find it.
I will give some thought to how I could boost traffic over the coming weeks.
Measuring the progress of this late recovery is challenging. To measure how much white skin I have requires a reasonable amount of blood flow to my glans. Without that, there's little contrast between the different areas. But Tea Tree Oil tends to promote blood flow anyway, so it gives the impression that progress is happening faster than it perhaps is.
I am trying to not to fixate over progress too much, and just focus on the basics - after urination, dry, dry, then dry some more. Even then, I will occasionally check to make sure none has leaked out. I also ensure I clean thoroughly in the shower, and also try to tighten my PC muscles whenever I remember.
I've noticed the readership of this blog has dropped right back, and this appears to coincide with the frequency of my posting/updates reducing. Perhaps by posting regularly I boost the blog's rank in search engines. If this is the case, then I may need to consider other approaches to boost that rank. All the information on this blog is of no use to someone who is suffering but can't find it.
I will give some thought to how I could boost traffic over the coming weeks.
Thanks for the posts. I have some questions regarding my situation. I was able to retract my foreskin completely before BXO. Now with BXO, retraction is utterly impossible. I can't even remotely retract my foreskin back when flaccid. Using TTO+DMSO, have had lots of skin peel on the outside of the foreskin, but every time it peels, there's always another layer of white skin.
ReplyDeleteThe inner foreskin is not peeling at all, not sure what to do there. I'm also trying to stretch my phimotic ring, but when I do, the skin cracks and creates thick white scar tissue.
I'm seriously considering surgery or laser surgery at this point, I already have so much scar tissue from trying to stretch (with creme complete, emu oil, coconut oil) that I feel like I'm just making the situation worse.
Any information is much appreciated.
As I've said earlier, you really need to look at a treatment that you can pour into the foreskin. Hydrogen Peroxide or warmed up Manuka Honey are two that immediately sprang to mind. I've read on another blog suggesting Borax dissolved in water is effective for women. I've always felt women are at a disadvantage when it comes to treating BXO, as they don't have the 'drying' options that men do. In a way, your situation is probably quite similar.
DeleteThe other thing I would stress is that there is very strong evidence suggesting BXO is caused by urine. Your BXO wasn't always there. It's been triggered by something. For many people, the trigger is the beginning of post-urination dribble. Is that an issue for you? Have you been doing anything to try and avoid that as a trigger?
I know you say it's hard to get under the foreskin to treat this, but presumably, urine is managing to. If I was in your situation, I'd be thinking:
1) Minimise the amount of urine that hangs around post-urination.
2) Wash under the foreskin somehow - even without the ability to 'scrub' under there, there are still ways and means of getting to it with the right product
3) Treat it with a liquid-based treatment that you can pour into the foreskin and can soak away
I do have a urine dribble and was always careless in hygiene. I'm drying myself every time I urinate but it's hard because I can barely open up the foreskin enough to even dry the urethra.
DeleteThe problem I currently have is the scar tissue on my inner foreskin and phimotic ring. I can barely retract enough to expose my urethra so my urine doesn't touch the foreskin. Currently I have an open lesion that cracks and splits every time I try to retract enough to urinate.
Also, did you ever manage to peel skin that wasn't completely dry? It seems like the skin only wants to peel when there's no moisture.
I'm not giving up yet on this but all of the scar tissue I have in the inner foreskin is really demoralizing, since it's going to be almost impossible to get rid of it.
Also have you any experience with PRP injections? Here's an interesting study I found.
Deletehttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16809261
I'm also practicing prolonged fasting, maybe it could help with skin regeneration.
I'd never heard of PRP injections being used for this, although I had heard about the CO2 laser therapy. I never looked further into it as I was happy with the progress I achieved on my own.
DeleteIn terms of peeling, I'm peeling quite a bit on the outside of my foreskin with TTO+DMSO. The problem is the skin keeps coming back as this pale white color. I can't tell if the skin keeps turning into BXO skin or there's multiple layers, I've been peeling the same part of the skin for multiple weeks now, it's really frustrating.
DeleteIn terms of the white ring I've been using manuka honey+TTO+DMSO and it's still incredibly tight and hard, not exactly sure how to fix this issue. Thanks for the help again
"Peeling is healing". Don't worry what the skin underneath looks like. If you're peeling, you're on the way to healing. I fell into the trap of thinking that, beneath one single layer of white skin lay healthy tissue. I was completely wrong, or course. Beneath white BXO skin lies yet another layer of BXO skin. When you heal through treatments and dryness, you will work your way down through the layers and the skin will very gradually come back as normal in texture etc.
DeleteThinking about it, that might be exactly what you need. If you can improve the elasticity of the skin you CAN get to (the outer skin) then you might find the tight prepuce gradually starts to open up more.
Just, whatever you do, do not force it.
hi I posted before, just wanted to let you know mine is getting better. Although now I think I have lichen planus rather than BXO. Mine looks greyish/blue. I used a hydrocortisone cream and kept it dry. I retracted the foreskin sometimes too.
ReplyDeleteI also found circumcision pictures of BXO where the glans healed up. Let me know if you want the link. It's hard to find BXO before after pictures on the internet.
Have you heard of ozoile? It's a special cream made of ozonated olive oil. Seems you can only get it from Europe but there are many shipping companies that will buy things for you from websites and then ship the package to the USA. I had my boyfriend pick me up some cream and ship it to me. It's too soon to say if it's working or not but it feels great on the skin. There's even a medical article about it.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29534008
The cream you want is called Rigenoma crema 40, they have many different creams but this is the one they used for BXO treatment.
Hey just wanted to thank you for making this blog for us all. It is helping a lot of people.
ReplyDeleteHello, I'd also like to thank you for this blog as the information has been very useful in setting up a treatment plan. Paul (28)
ReplyDeleteI think I have finally found a treatment after struggling with this through my whole puberty, vitamin e oil and liquid vitamin b12 mixed together. It really is delivering amazing results, i have been using it for nearly 2 weeks now and the skin is peeling like crazy. After literally years of struggling with a lot of different treatments i finally have some hope of recovering and a penis I can actually use.. Can't describe how happy I am, this disease is mentally really shitty because I wasn't able to have sex without getting cracks in my foreskin.
ReplyDeleteVITAMIN E OIL AND LIQUID VITAMIN B12 MIXED TOGETHER TRY IT!!
this is where i found the idea ;
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/vitamin-b-vitamin-e-and-zinc--272330
I just wanted to thank you for posting this site. Being uncircumcised, lots of doctors even don't know this simple information or how to explain it properly , so this really helped me. "Peeling is healing" I've repeated constantly as well as "once you've dried, dry again" and paying more attention to dripping and honestly obsessing over dryness. But it has all been worth it because it's all working and I am in a much better situation than I was 3-4 months ago. (33)
ReplyDeleteHello there, I was recently diagnosed with Lichen Sclerosus. Luckily I noticed it in a relatively early stadium. I only have some white patches on the glans (most at the edge near the frenulum where it is most likely for urine to get caught).
ReplyDeleteI saw a dermatologist and got steroid ointment for three months. Starting one time a day in the evening for one month.
I 'm really careful now on drying, because I have the dripping problem too sometimes. Hope you are still ok? Long time since you have posted. I'm a bit scared for the condition to get worse, but I hope that because of the early diagnosis it will be ok for a very long time ...
Should I use a daily maintenance cream/oil/ointment? Or just let it dry ... What do you think, please?
Thanks for the blog!
Hi there. Yes, I am still healthy and completely recovered from BXO. I use no treatments whatsoever now, and I was once covered in it. So I assure you, a normal life free of treatment and medication is certainly possible.
DeleteI used clobetasol as prescribed by my doctor. It helped, but then so did all the other treatments I had tried. When I started on clobetasol, I expected the white skin to just fall off, and to give me progress in week like I had previously taken months to see, but in reality the rate of progress I saw from it was at a similar rate to my own treatments.
In your situation, I would go with your gut. I'm not a doctor and I can't give medical advice, certainly not anything that contradicts advice you have already been given by a dermatologist. But remember, you can choose how you treat yourself.
My doctor told me that long term use of steroids can think the skin, so the three month advice will probably be because of that.
Whatever you decide, make sure you keep yourself as dry as possible. That way, you will ensure the habit is in place for whenever you do stop treatment.
Thank you so much for your answer! Feels really nice to hear you are still doing great. I tried to read as much as possible the last few weeks, but to be honest all the stories are freaking me out.
DeleteI think i will use a maintenance ointment in the morning for now. I hope/think it also helps against urine.
Did you give up things like sugar or drinking a beer?
Best regards and thanks again,
Kris
My advice to you is to avoid reading content online as much as possible. Just have faith in the methods that I discuss here, which are supported by the findings of many others too.
DeleteBXO messes with your head something chronic. Not only do you have to deal with a disease on your genitals, but healing is excruciatingly slow, and at times you wonder if it's happening at all. What you see on here are the successes I had. What I haven't really described here is just how unnerving it is healing from BXO, not knowing whether you're making any change, and even when you do, not knowing how much you will ever be able to return to normal again.
But I have healed, and so have others. If you're finding it unsettling, just know that you're not alone. You'd be strange if you didn't find this unsettling. If it wasn't so unsettling for me, there wouldn't be a blog. I would have just healed from this like I've healed from plenty of other illnesses, and moved on.
I tried changing a few things in my diet - no sugar or dairy were the two things I tried. But neither made any difference. I didn't drink much alcohol at the time I was healing, so there wasn't really much to give up there.
Thanks, I can totally imagine the way you must have been feeling. At the moment it 's really al rollercoaster of emotions. One moment I 'm confident in beating this disease or at least halting the progress ... the next moment I 'm freaking out and image myself needing urethroplasty in a few years ... A word I did never hear of before, but now I learned a lot of those words in a few weeks. Wished I didn't, but no way back ... I need to deal with it, just like you did and other do. I count myself lucky that I was diagnosed early (or did diagnose myself), and let's hope that can make a big difference for the future. As for the white spots, I 'm not seeing any progress yet ... but I guess that' s what your talking about when you mention the "not knowing whether you are making any difference".
DeleteThank you again for the answer and the blog!
It's a bit like weight loss. The more severe your initial problem, the faster you see initial gains. It's a curve toward the end, though, as it takes much more time to see improvements the closer you are to a normal, healthy state. I found the progress slowed considerably as my recovery got closer and closer to normal.
DeleteIn my case, I started with a pretty heavy case of BXO, and yet even then progress was very slow. I can only imagine how hard it must be when you're starting out from a less progressed version, and aren't sure if it's making any difference.
I know I've said it a lo here in my content, but I'll reiterate - BXO doesn't heal like any other wound I've seen before. Peeling is normally very apparent, making it clear that things are progressing. But BXO's peeling is very subtle, and in some cases, impossible to see.
All I can say to you is to just stick at what you're doing.
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI want to thank you deeply for your insightful blog. I have been following your advice of thoroughly drying for the past year, and improvement has been tremendous.
Regarding my situation, I contracted a tight phimosis in my late 30's, then tried all medical treatments (but refused the circumcision advised by the urologist), to no avail. Stretching and oiling helped, but progress would always set back after a while. Just as you describe, the lichen and the tightening occurred at a time where I started dribbling a little. It's really a vicious cycle, the tighter the ring, the more the dribbling.
Right now, the ring is almost gone, with just a bit of white discoloration along it, and also near the urethra. I will try the talk powder.
Thanks again, and best regards,
Eric.
Thanks so much for sharing. It's stories like yours that help validate my reasons for going public with my healing journey. I'm so pleased this blog helped you restore your normal function without needing a circumcision. You should find that the skin continues to return to a more healthy colour in time as well. It may never get to its original look, but it certainly comes close.
DeleteI will just add that in my personal routine, besides drying, I always rinse with clean water first, which helps a lot avoiding irritation of the skin. I'm always looking for bathrooms with a private washbowl :-)
DeleteI really appreciate this blog, this disease is quite mentally exhausting, and after surfing through the web i get absolutely freaked out, while this blog gives me a ray of hope.
ReplyDeleteI was diagnosed with BXO earlier this year, had to get circumcised as i couldn't retract my foreskin at all.
Circumcision helped me keep it dry, some of the white patches are fading away, regaining the original pigmentation.The white patches don't feel different or crack for me, they're like rest of the healthy skin, just discolored.
My main concern is that i dribble, there's always a couple drops left after i urinate, I make sure to squeeze it out and keep the area dry. I also feel the urge to pee more frequently than before i got circumcised, the cystoscopy reports were apparently normal but I am told to follow up every year.
I'm unsure whether the urethra has been infected, the thought of needing a urethroplasty is devastating for me.
I can only speak for my own experience. I had a small amount of narrowing around the urethra at one brief stage, but it went away pretty quick once I got into the habit of drying after urination. I've found it's more effective to do all the squeezing you can before using toilet paper, since that ensures nothing else comes out after you're done.
DeleteStrengthening the pelvic floor muscles would probably help as well. I don't bother with exercises, but I do occasionally force myself to stop mid-stream, just to exercise them. Also, be aware of when you're holding tension in your pelvic floor area.
Have you tried using SCLERO discret crème by Thymuskin? I bought mine off from wynnpharm.com for about $60. It has a study on the website showing that is more efficient than tacrolimus ointment (an ointment used for bxo cases.) I use it along with Rigenoma by Erbagil, which also has a medical study showing it is as effective as steroidal ointments.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the Rigenoma cream only ships to places in Europe so I had my boyfriend buy me some and send them to me in the US. However, you can probably find a company that can buy your product in Europe then package and ship to you for a fee.
So far using SCLERO discret crème followed by Rigenoma cream 2 hours later (2x for each cream for total of 4x applications) has done wonders for my BXO. It is slowly healing and I can see the white patch of my skin turning pinker over the months!
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328833468_Topical_application_of_eosin_2_with_cloroxilenol_03_propylene_glycol_30_neomercurocromo_and_colloidal_silver_a_new_topical_treatment_for_lichen_sclerosus
ReplyDeleteIn case anyone is interested, I found this article that talks about a new treatment that uses something called "Neomercurocromo" and Colloidal Silver to combat BXO. It's a new treatment but according to the article, it shows very promising healing effects!