I don’t suffer from the sitting problem as such but I’ve suffered from the "penis rubbing against underwear” problem for years, I would describe it as a burning sensation made worse by the slightest friction such as walking, walking always seems to make it worse, some days are worse than others but it is always present to some degree. As regards when I’m sitting the discomfort comes from any slight pressure from my clothes.

For a long time I just put vaseline on the glans as a barrier but it was just so messy and didn’t seem to help much, I have since tried many emollients but none of them really make much difference.

As regards meds, I was on antibiotics on and off for years for acne rosacea and a skin specialist who I was seeing about the acne rosacea had a look at my glans problem referred me to a penile eczema specialist, not that there was much evidence of eczema just the usual slight redness but anyway he reckoned it was related to my overall acne rosacea/eczema problems.
The urologist I saw at the penile eczema specialist clinic said there was no infection but that my skin was just very sensitive (she did a skin sensitivity test) and to try a range of antihistamines which are often prescribed for skin allergies but I didn't notice much difference apart from them making me drowsy, she also prescribed an anaesthetic ointment to help as she put it "retrain the nerve endings" I’m not sure I gave them much of a chance of working, I just didn’t get along with either and my doctor who specialises in STDs and UTIs didn't seem impressed with the idea anyway and said we had reached a point where it just seems to be in my head.

I sometimes do a lot of walking even though that makes the discomfort much worse and I’ve noticed in the shower after my walks that the corona (ridge of the glans) looks very inflamed. As I am circumcised there is obviously no protection for that part.

There have been very short periods and I mean a day or two when it has felt almost normal, on a couple of occasions on sunny days at the start of summer I have walked with negligible discomfort and after each of two hernia operations it felt fine for several days afterwards, I put it down to the anaesthetic and the painkillers which I was on for about a week following each op but when replicating the meds the problem remained, I suppose it could have been heavy anaesthetic still in my body post-op or recovery pain distracting?

I wish there was just one urologist/medical practitioner on the planet who could say "yes, I’ve seen that before and I know what to do about it” what a relief that would be.

For the record I also had chickenpox as a child.

Since I wrote the above I found this article which fits my condition / symptoms and also mentions the possible Rosacea connection.** the title is "Male genital dysaesthesia" (unable to post links yet)

NB664, I sometimes have similar experiences to yours though I am not circumcised (I don't know if this is significant).

I have found that, ahem, adjusting myself, usually works.

I had a chat to my GP about this and, after a genital examination, he was not concerned in the slightest.

Ok, so I must admit I was pretty bummed out that my post from April 2015 got no reply until just a few days ago. I'm so alone with this! Thank you for the recent posts.

Ok, so I'm maybe 50% better than I was when I posted in April. Sometime in early June, I decided to try something daring. There was this tiny little raised spot in the circumcision mark "band" on the underside of the penis that brought about a good portion of the pain when rubbing against underwear. Imagine something about the size of the lead side of a pencil that needs to be sharpened - what that pencil tip looks like when it's really dull and needs sharpening. It was about that size. I had pointed this out to the doctors who told me it looked normal. In fact, it looked like a few other smaller spots in that circumcision band - but none of those other spots were causing any pain. So, I came up with an idea all on my own and took a big leap of faith, I used my two thumbnails and squeezed the hell out of that tiny little spot. Yes, it hurt!! And for about 2-3 weeks after it really hurt - making me sorta sorry I had done it because that tiny area was so sore, however it was a different pain. After three weeks, the soreness from squeezing it disappeared, and that little spot stopped bothering me all together when rubbed against underwear.

There are things called neuromas (not the foot kind). Basically I think this area could have been a neuroma issue because my penis had had slight cuts around that area from bad oral sex just prior to this hell on earth rubbing underwear issue started. I believe that by squeezing the hell out of this site, I killed the nerve(s) firing from it brought on from the underwear friction. I don't know if this was just lucky on my part that I got better from it. I don't know if this is a good idea to try for anyone else. I'm just telling you all my story for your information.

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I find I'm in less pain during the summer mostly because of wearing shorts. Shorts in general bother me less than long pants. I believe it's because of the open leg nature of shorts. However, it comes down to the fit of shorts and pants in general. I'm also a big fan of silky like boxer shorts - even the cheap silky like polyester type you can find at Sears. Wearing those silky boxers and the right fitting shorts/pants can make a world of difference.

If you are a big walker and find yourself missing out, I'd consider buying a treadmill for home where you can walk in your boxers or whatever makes you comfortable.

I have also tried friction therapy to desensitize the area on my penis bothered by the friction from underwear. There is info about this out there specifically how to desensitize scars and sensitive skin, however nothing specific to penis skin. Here's what I did (again this worked for me, but may not work for everyone):

1) Hold penis in one hand and use fingers on that hand to stretch it out a bit and hold in that position to expose the problem area.
2) Use thumb and index finger on other hand to rub the problem area in at least four directions: up, down, left, and right. Do each direction 10 times each to start for this trial run.
3) Minutes to hours after I felt worse. The next few days I continued to feel worse and was sorry I did it. At about the 4th day, I started to feel better, and by day 5 I was much better and noticed a big improvement from doing this exercise. The benefits last a handful of days thereafter.

I think this exercise helps build up a resistance to the underwear friction. The next time I did the exercise, I increased the reps to 20 times each direction. I have built up to about 40 reps each direction, and I've found the recovery time a little less and the subsequent number of days of benefit to increase slightly. Each time I do this, I need to block out a few days when I know I will not be walking around much so that I can recover and not make things worse.

NB664 or has anyone else, have you tried anything like this?

I agree about the shorts and the fit, that combined with the de-stressing effect of the first warm sunny days of summer definitely have a positive effect.

I am a relatively big walker and although the joy of it has been tarnished I continue because I feel the health benefits outweigh the discomfort.

I will have a look at the desensitising business

My current thinking is that in my case it is simply inflammation caused by friction from clothing when walking that causes the prickly/burning/sensitivity. The vicious circle is the stress and it’s effect on sleep make my already sensitive skin more prone to the friction/inflammation which then causes the stress and on it goes. I guess that was the idea of the Lidocaine anaesthetic gel/ I was prescribed by the penile eczema specialist, to break the cycle or as she put it “retrain the nerve endings” but that suggests her view was that the original problem was gone but the recurring inflammation suggests otherwise.

I am thinking of trying out Topricin at some point, a homeopathic/herbal anti-inflammatory cream.