What is this rash and why did it spread to my weiner?

December 1, 2006 4:15 PM

So I had this strange rash on my hands- clusters of tiny little blisters, in between my fingers, on my palm, and anywhere where there's a crease. It's pretty persistent but after two months it has mostly gone away- except it jumped off my hands and went a little bit... downtown.

So now I have a big lump on the shaft of my penis and my penis head has small red spots, but no blisters.

Doctor Dad said (before it spread) that it wasn't scabes, and that it probably wasn't anything. Doctor Dad is also known to think it's 'nothing' when it's something (no dad, it's not just gas, I'm pretty sure I have appendicitis), so I'm not sure.

Considering that it's mostly gone on my hands, should I just wait it out on my penis? Or do I HAVE to see a doctor? And do I need to see any particular kind of doctor, or just go to a walk in clinic? What could this possibly be?

Oh, and I'm pretty sure it's not an STD, because I'm not getting any.

posted by tumbleweedjack to Health & Fitness (29 answers total)

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/1385.htm

Yikes - go to a real doctor, not Doctor Dad. Maybe you're not "getting any" now, but according to this syphyllis starts on your palms or your soles and then moves to your penis. It also damages your brain, so please go to the doctor and get it checked out, simple antibiotics will cure it and save you from mental illness in later years!
posted by WaterSprite at 4:28 PM on December 1, 2006

and yes, i realize i misspelled the name of the disease, but that's not the important issue at hand.
posted by WaterSprite at 4:29 PM on December 1, 2006

You should definitely go to a doctor, but it's possible that it's just spread through contact and is something pretty harmless (just to say DON'T PANIC).

Walk in clinic (general practitioner of some kind, I assume?) sounds fine - if you need to see someone special, the first guy will tell you.
posted by jacalata at 4:30 PM on December 1, 2006

Yikes - go to a real doctor, not Doctor Dad. Maybe you're not "getting any" now, but according to this syphyllis starts on your palms or your soles and then moves to your penis. It also damages your brain, so please go to the doctor and get it checked out, simple antibiotics will cure it and save you from mental illness in later years!

Argh - no, no. That's NOT what that page says.

Syphilis starts as a usually painless chancre at the site of infection (usually the genitals, or tongue) and that's the Primary stage. Secondary syphilis (untreated Primary) CAN manifest as a rash on the palms and soles. If THAT is still untreated, it can indeed affect the brain and other systems.

But, dude, please see a doc one way or the other.
posted by tristeza at 4:50 PM on December 1, 2006

Response by poster: I'm on my way right now, as a matter of fact. Thanks for making me realize how urgent this is.
posted by tumbleweedjack at 5:06 PM on December 1, 2006

Report back with the diganosis please, & if you're comfortable telling!
posted by soviet sleepover at 5:16 PM on December 1, 2006

Yes, I agree about the reporting back. Please let us know. I am worried about you.
posted by WaterSprite at 5:45 PM on December 1, 2006

Secondary syphilis is one of the few infectious diseases that produces rashes on the palms and soles, as well as a generalized rash. If an ulcer on the penis is followed several weeks later by a rash, the person should always be evaluated for syphilis.

Um, that is what the page says. For secondary syphilis. These things can go undetected for a long time. Please be careful.
posted by WaterSprite at 5:47 PM on December 1, 2006

molluscum contagiosum?
posted by myeviltwin at 5:52 PM on December 1, 2006

The chancre appears before the rash, WaterSprite. In the poster's case, he's saying it's a different order.
posted by gramcracker at 5:57 PM on December 1, 2006

Doctors are never as objective with their own family as they are with the regular patients. They might be more prone to over diagnose, but seem more likely to dismiss stuff prematurely.
posted by caddis at 6:34 PM on December 1, 2006

This reminds me of a side-effect of some prescription medications -- Lamictal and Depakote come to mind. But I'm not a doctor, just a guy they try to give heavy drugs to.
posted by davy at 6:40 PM on December 1, 2006

Have you been on any antibiotics lately? I got a "traveling" rash once and it turned out to be caused by penicillin I didn't know I was allergic to. But yeah, see your doctor.
posted by Jess the Mess at 7:09 PM on December 1, 2006

The chancre appears before the rash, WaterSprite. In the poster's case, he's saying it's a different order.
He may have missed the preliminary symptoms.

Let's wait until he gets an answer.
posted by WaterSprite at 7:14 PM on December 1, 2006

For what it's worth, I hope it's just a simple rash.
posted by WaterSprite at 7:15 PM on December 1, 2006

Have you been masturbating lately? Have you been using hand lotion as lube? Or any non-lube lube as lube? Because allergies to Lanolin and the like are rather common.

Of course, if you ever want to have sex again, go to a doctor. Even if it goes away, you have a responsibility to yourself and future partner(s) to make certain it's not something contagious. Any doctor should be able to help, but if you're short of money or underinsured, I'd make my first stop Planned Parenthood.

(I was going to link to PP's find-a-clinic page, but it turns out to be on their home page. Good job, Planned Parenthood!)
posted by stet at 7:18 PM on December 1, 2006

Let me just state something for the record, I am not a doctor, I am a librarian. I know that I suggested the possibility that you've got nothing to worry about, but there are sores on your penis. Go to Planned Parenthood!
posted by stet at 7:22 PM on December 1, 2006

Response by poster: I went to a walk-in clinic and the doctor says this is most likely syphilis- tomorrow morning I am getting a full STD test and we'll see. I already informed all recent partners to give them a heads up until I get results back.
I'll post an update after I get official test results back. Thanks everyone for your concern.
posted by tumbleweedjack at 8:10 PM on December 1, 2006

Well, of all the stds, this is curable. Sure beats getting a lifelong affliction like herpes. good luck
posted by caddis at 8:19 PM on December 1, 2006

Remember kids, always use a raincoat on your weiner!
posted by Justinian at 8:53 PM on December 1, 2006

I gotta say, I had something similar to the hand deal and it spread too. Not to the nether regions but it jumped ship entirely to my feet.

In the end? Excema. There's are hundreds of different kinds. And I just had a really weird one that looked like one thing in one place and another down south. But all the same? Excema.

Though, based on the online Physician's desk reference, I was SURE it was syphillis.

So let's all hold our thoughts in check for the moment. Skin is a wacky thing to be in. So let's see where the skin goes.
posted by rileyray3000 at 10:32 PM on December 1, 2006

Can I just be really proud of tumbleweedjack here? The right thing to do is get tested and tell anyone who might have been exposed, and I've had that conversation. It's not an easy thing to do.
Hoping it's something else, but you done good.
posted by deep_cover at 11:18 PM on December 1, 2006

This sounds like what my hands did when I used Vaseline Intensive Care (LOL) hand lotion (on my hands). But that didn't spread, but then, I didn't use it down there, either. I don't know why that product does my hands that way.

Former partners? Um, you said you weren't getting any.

I did have weird stuff on my hands when I was 11, and that jumped to my feet (or vice versa, I forget). All old caluses peeled off, pretty much all the skin on both hands and feet peeled. Excema, as far as I ever knew. To this day, the scent of A&D ointment takes me back to having to wear cotton gloves to bed, over my greased-up hands.

Hope for your sake it isn't syph, but something more benign. Somehow I either never got an STD like that, or it got cured in the course of taking antibiotics for other things. I did have an ugly experience with hepetitus though, about 20 years ago.
posted by Goofyy at 7:43 AM on December 2, 2006

i recently had something similliar--but without the downtown aspect. looks like i had this. maybe you do, too.
posted by lester's sock puppet at 9:32 AM on December 2, 2006

Maybe you're not "getting any" now, but according to this syphyllis starts on your palms or your soles and then moves to your penis.

WaterSprite, this is what I was correcting before. You have the order wrong here, that's all. According to the site you linked, it starts with a sore, moves onto rash.
posted by tristeza at 11:36 AM on December 2, 2006

tumbleweedjack writes "I already informed all recent partners to give them a heads up until I get results back. "

Er, you need to inform more than just your recent partners. When was the last time you had an STD screening? You need to notify everyone you've been with for about two weeks before that screening up until today.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 1:14 PM on December 2, 2006

Response by poster: Well, interesting news... I got a full STD screening- and everything, including syphilis, came back negative. So that's great news, except I still have a very itchy rash. Next step, dermatologist, I guess.
posted by tumbleweedjack at 10:03 AM on December 7, 2006

Thanks for keeping us updated, tumbleweedjack, and I'm glad it's not syphilis.

FWIW, which probably isn't much, I get little clusters of blisters on the sides of my fingers when really stressed out.
posted by deborah at 10:13 AM on December 8, 2006

Response by poster: Well, if anyone is still wondering- it did turn out to be scabes, after all. The moral of the story is, your primary physician should not be your father.
posted by tumbleweedjack at 2:13 AM on December 20, 2006