Male Urethral Discharge: Types, Causes, and Symptoms

The urethra is the urinary canal through which urine and semen are expelled. These discharges are physiological. However, in some cases (during inflammation, infections, microbial contamination, and sexually transmitted diseases), urethral discharge is considered pathological. This article will discuss what to pay attention to and why you should immediately visit a urologist.

Clear Urethral Discharge

Clear, odorless discharge from the male urethra without signs of pus or blood is not considered normal, as it may indicate infections such as mycoplasmosis, ureaplasmosis, or chlamydia. The mucus discharged from the urethra, in this case, may have a barely noticeable yellowish or slight gray tint. Other possible symptoms include burning during urination, itching, and redness of the glans penis. However, in some cases, clear mucous discharge is the only symptom of the disease.

White Urethral Discharge

White mucus can be the first sign of several diseases, including candidiasis, prostatitis, chlamydia, and mycoplasmosis. Many believe that candidiasis or thrush can only occur in women, but this is incorrect—candidiasis is just as common in men. However, due to the lack of pronounced symptoms, the disease often remains undiagnosed, and men seek medical attention only when complications develop.

Prostatitis is an inflammatory disease of the prostate that can be acute or chronic with exacerbations. The disease often progresses asymptomatically, especially in the initial stage, but constant white discharge from the urethra should alert a man.

Yellow Urethral Discharge in Men

The main cause of yellow discharge from the male urethra is chronic urethritis. This inflammatory disease of the urethra can be infectious or non-infectious. Most often, the disease can be triggered by:

• Body overcooling
  
  
• Microtraumas of the genitals
  
  
• Surgical interventions on the penis
  
  
• Urinary catheter placement
  
  
• Poor personal hygiene
  
  
• Sedentary lifestyle

Among infectious diseases, a doctor may diagnose gonorrhea, chlamydia, ureaplasmosis, or syphilis after the examination. All of these are sexually transmitted, so as preventive measures, it is recommended to avoid casual sexual encounters and always use condoms.

Bloody Discharge

Can blood be discharged from the urethra? Yes, this is possible in advanced cases of gonococcal or candidal urethritis that remain untreated for a long time and lead to complications. Other causes include damage to the urethral wall when stones or sand pass through from the bladder, traumatic damage to the urethra during medical interventions (most often catheter placement), or inflammatory kidney disease. If bloody discharge appears, you should immediately consult a general practitioner or urologist.

Purulent Urethral Discharge

Often, itching and purulent discharge from the urethra are the first signs of venereal diseases. This group of diseases includes syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and some others. With these diseases, a man notices that the discharge from the urethra has a putrid odor and may have a greenish or yellow tint. Other symptoms include pain (which can be in the perineum, penis, lower abdomen and be temporary or constant), skin rash, and enlarged lymph nodes.

It's important to understand that it's impossible to make a correct diagnosis, let alone prescribe treatment, on your own. Therefore, you should consult a urologist to avoid complications and fully recover.

Discharge with Unpleasant Odor

Discharge from the urethra may have an unpleasant odor, for example, putrid. This is most often found in sexually transmitted diseases and is frequently associated with the development of bacterial urethritis. Another reason for the appearance of an unpleasant fishy odor is gardnerellosis. This disease usually affects women, it is rare in men, but this pathology should not be excluded from the causes of discharge from the penis.

Sources: 

S. N. Kozlov, Modern views on the problem of non-gonococcal urethritis, Clinical Dermatology and Venereology, No. 2 2011.

M. S. Askhakov. Effectiveness of developed treatment regimens for patients with urethritis and infectious urethroproprostatitis (chlamydial and mixed infections), 2011

V. I. Kisina, Modern approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of non-gonococcal urethritis, Consilium Medicum, No. 01, 2005

Non-gonococcal urethritis in men, Difficult Patient No. 3, volume 7, 2009

N. A. Lopatkin, Urology. National Guide, Publisher: GEOTAR-Media., 2009