Patient's question:
My body has always been fine, and I haven't had any bad sexual activity, but recently I've been feeling pain in my glans and it's a bit red. It hurts very much. My friend said it might be balanitis. I plan to go to the hospital for a check-up in a few days. I want to know the detailed methods for checking balanitis so I can prepare well. How is balanitis detected?Doctor's answer:
Balanitis is a diffuse inflammation of the glans and foreskin. Balanitis is often caused by yeast or bacteria under the foreskin in uncircumcised individuals, leading to inflammation that causes pain, redness, and swelling, which can result in urethral stricture. Patients may later develop dry balanitis, phimosis, paraphimosis, and cancer, requiring early diagnosis. There are many methods to test for balanitis, such as scraping off the scales from the surface of skin lesions on the glans, coronal sulcus, or foreskin as a sample for examination.