Most balanitis products are general purpose anti-inflammatory creams that are formulated to treat everything from eczema to insect bites. While the ingredients in these creams can be beneficial for other skin conditions, they can be very irritating to the glans and are counterproductive for finding balanitis relief.

Let's take a look at a few of these ingredients commonly found in balanitis creams and see how they are harmful for your penile tissue...

Harmful Ingredient #1
Tea Tree Oil

Tea tree oil is commonly used in balanitis creams because it is believed to provide protection from skin infections. However, what most people don't know is that tea tree oil is extremely irritating to the mucosa and should never be applied to exposed penile tissue. The longer this oil remains on your glans, the more damage it causes.

There are numerous reported incidents of balanitis sufferers experiencing serious side effects to this ingredient alone. The European Union has even considered banning its use after studies have revealed some disturbing side effects of tea tree oil in men :

• It can disrupt your hormonal balance
• It increases your chances of catching superbug infections
• Even low dose exposures can make existing bacterial infections resistant to antibiotic use

And these effects were reported when tea tree oil was applied to normal skin, which is much tougher than penile tissue. The fact that balanitis creams expose your sensitive glans tissue to this substance further amplifies its ability to cause harm.

Harmful Ingredient #2
Silver

This is another dangerous ingredient that is often used in balanitis creams. You may find it labeled as silver oxide or colloidal silver. Regardless of what form of silver the product uses, it is still a toxic heavy metal that is known to accumulate in the body. In other words, silver is no different than other toxic metals such as mercury or arsenic because our body has no efficient way of getting rid of it and while it remains confined to our organs, it damages them.

However the biggest danger of applying a cream containing silver oxide or other forms of silver to your glans or foreskin is that it can deposit metallic silver under your penile skin causing a condition known as argyria. Argyria can cause a permanent graying of your penile tissue. This side effect has been clinically established.

What's worse is that, just like with tea tree oil, this severe side effect was seen when silver oxide was exposed to normal skin. Imagine the effect this ingredient would have on your penile tissue which already lacks the tough epidermal layer present on normal skin. This increases the systemic absorption of silver particles many times fold and puts you at risk for both heavy metal toxicity and argyria.

It is also important to note that there are so many side effects reported regarding the use of silver containing products that in 1999 the FDA issued a ruling, warning that "all over-the-counter products containing colloidal silver ingredients or silver salts for internal or external use are not generally recognized as safe and effective and are misbranded."

There are many other ingredients commonly added to balanitis creams that can be equally dangerous when applied to the penile tissue :

• Lavendar oil - This oil has shown to cause hormonal disruptions and a study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine revealed that it may even cause breast development in males.
• Cottonseed Oil - This oil comes from one of the most pesticide laden crops produced in the US. Many of these toxic pesticides, which include propargite, trifluralin, naled and dicofol, have shown to make it into the oil where they can get absorbed into the body through the exposed penile mucosa. Cottonseed oil also often contains a natural toxin called gossypol, which has been shown to inhibit sperm production and lower fertility in men.
• Allanoin - Normally this moisturizing ingredient works by thinning the tough outer layer of your skin through a process called dekeratinization. Since the skin on our hands, face and body has a layer of dead cells on top, this thinning of the epidermis can make your skin feel softer. However, unlike normal skin, the glans lacks this tough outer layer and the dekeratinization caused by allantoin can actually worsen your balanitis by eroding its surface.

This is a perfect example of how even normally helpful ingredients can in-fact have the opposite effect when applied to the penile skin.

Remember, just because balanitis affects the outer surface of your glans doesn't mean it's just another skin condition, nor should it be treated with a cream formulated for common skin conditions. You wouldn't apply skin cream on the inside of your eyelids. Our foreskin and glans are anatomically similar to our eyelids and you shouldn't apply a regular skin cream to these sensitive areas - even if the product advertises itself as a balanitis relief product.

SuraGel, on the other hand, is made precisely with the balanitis sufferer in mind and is formulated to support healthy penile physiology. Each ingredient in SuraGel has been selected to address one of 10 specific therapeutic targets while still being gentle on your penile tissue.

Since SuraGel has been made just for balanitis, the formula is more targeted, more effective and safer for your glans. This means you're getting an uncompromising product made just for you - a product that brings you targeted relief quickly and effectively.