I recommend the following, which has also been recommended by my two dermatologists and my urologists:
-Change your diaper every time it’s wet; do not sit around in wet diapers or pads. Wash with water ONLY. My doctor is very strict about avoiding all soap products. It sounds gross but it keeps your skin from becoming irritated. Pat as you clean; do not scrub. Be very gentle. Use only very soft cloths; no sponges or scrub brushes.
-Shave everything bald, including your thighs and all of your bits. This will dramatically decrease the quantity of bacteria and sweat in the region.
-Bathe at least once daily. Showers are more clean than baths. Do not use soap on your genitalia in the shower or bath, either. No sponges, only very gentle and soft washcloths.
-Wear Calmoseptine barrier cream daily. It’s expensive but you hardly need any. A pea-sized amount will last for days and will cover your entire leg creases. You can’t even get that stuff off your skin if you want to! It is very thick and very soothing. Beware, however, that it can leave a grease stain on light-colored clothing because it contains oil. Sometimes it will wash out in the laundry but not always. You will find that Calmoseptine is very soothing for rashes both immediately and for a long time thereafter. Sometimes it is often stolen from stores by young parents for their babies, so if you don’t see it available on the shelf at the pharmacy, ask the pharmacist if they know where it is because they might keep it behind the counter to avoid it being stolen. Or, you can buy it on Amazon.
-As soon as you get a rash, go to Urgent Care or your urologist and tell them you need a yeast infection prescription cream like Ketacanazole. Keep some around the house for when you get an outbreak. When you apply it, it always goes on your skin first, followed by the barrier cream. You will likely also need a high dose of 7 days’ worth of a yeast infection oral medication called Diflucan/Flucanazole 150-200mg to get rid of the rash. Some doctors will try to just give you one day’s worth of the oral pill, but that doesn’t work with diaper rashes. Ideally, you can just build up a good rapport with your urologist or PCP/GP because they are used to diaper rashes and ideally, you should just be able to give them a phone call to get them to call in these prescriptions for you without even seeing you in their office because they will trust that you know what you’re dealing with yourself, so you might have to see them once or twice for a diaper rash initially, but afterwards, this can be kind of an ongoing medication that you just have refills available at the pharmacy for.
- If you can’t get to a doctor to get a prescription-strength yeast infection cream, you can try buying an over-the-counter one sold near female hygiene products at any grocery store or pharmacy. Buy one of the larger sizes and keep it around the house. No matter what you do, if you wear diapers, you will occasionally have a diaper rash, unfortunately.
-When you have a diaper rash or will be out walking around in the sweaty heat for an extended period of time, wear loose clothing items made of cotton that will breathe well to avoid a rash or irritation from forming -like shorts, not pants. If you’re female, shorter skirts work well. My dermatologist recently introduced me to a product called Body Glide that can be worn on the inner thighs and leg creases, under the barrier cream. It comes as a lotion or a cream on a stick, like deodorant. It’s available in both a female and a male formulation, from Amazon. I really like the deodorant stick-like product.
-Avoid wearing diapers that are too tight because they can cause the rash. This is really tough because you need the diaper to be tight enough to keep fluid in, but not so tight it strips your flesh. You may need to try different diaper products to find one that is sized best for you in the right places.
-Somebody here once recommended I try a very expensive product made by 3M called Cavilon. It comes in a spray that you spray on and let dry for a bit, or it comes in a cream. I tried the cream. It didn’t help solve nor prevent my diaper rashes at all. It wasn’t soothing. Calmoseptine is what my dermatologist told me to use. But apparently Cavilon does work for at least three other people I talked about it with in the past. You can order it from Amazon.