VAJRA KYRIARCH

For the last few years, I've had occasional itching around the area at the base of my penis. (Not penile itching, scrotal itching.) This itch has been increasing in frequency and intensity over the past few years.

It's at the point where I scratch it, and it only makes the itch worse. It tends to be located generally on either side of the base of the penis, radiating down the sides of the scrotum. It goes without saying, but it's extremely frustrating to try and scratch the itch, only to make it progressively worse.

It's at the point now, where I can't scratch it without it being torn raw. Once it's raw the itch actually gets worse! By the time the itch goes away, the areas of skin that I've scratched are so sore I can't even run water over them without swearing and cursing because of how painful it becomes.

Usually what happens is it's sore for about a day, the skin dries out and I get flaky dead skin for the next couple of days. Once the flakes clear, it's good. Recently however, the skin on the areas most often affected on my scrotum has toughened up. (Scar tissue?)

In addition to toughening up, the skin is slightly lighter colored than the rest of my scrotum and has small raised bumps at its edge, where it meets the non-itchy, unaffected skin. The bumps and the lighter color alarm me, to say the least.

It may be important to add that I trim my pubic hair and shave around the base of my penis every few days to keep it "clean" down there. The insane scrotal itching usually kicks in a day or two after a fresh shave, or if I've waited too long to shave my "intimate" zones. The former condition considered, I'm wondering if maybe my itch has something to do with not moisturizing enough, post shave.