Washing is gentler, causes no tears - unlike wiping: Constipation can lead to anal tears worsened by harsh wiping. This practice can also make you prone to health problems like anal fissures and urinary tract infections. So, washing is, undoubtedly a healthy practice.
A Consultant Public Health Physician at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Prof. Tanimola Akande, says washing with water, rather than wiping with tissue paper, is more hygienic after defecating.
Washing with water is a much more effective and long-lasting way of cleaning, and removes more germs and bacteria than paper. Using water is a much more gentle and soothing way of cleaning after using the toilet and the feeling of freshness and cleanliness is incomparable to when using paper.
Wiping Front to Back
If you don't have any physical limitations preventing you from reaching around your body to wipe from front to back, it's generally considered the safer route to go. You'll be moving feces away from your more delicate parts, lowering the risk of infection.
Washing With Water
Water is considered more hygienic since all feces and urine are washed off and leaves no bad smell in underwear whereas wiping does leave residual smell behind no matter how much one scrubs with toilet paper.
Not every diaper change may require a wipe. If your baby has only urinated, then you can probably skip wiping to avoid unnecessary irritation. However, always wipe after every poopy diaper, and always wipe front to back to help prevent the spread of bacteria.
Failure to wipe correctly could leave you vulnerable to a urinary tract infection or aggravate any existing rectal issues, like hemorrhoids or anal fissures. That's why Health turned to a gynecologist, a medical doctor specializing in the female reproductive tract. They get asked about wiping quite often.
Common causes of fecal incontinence include diarrhea, constipation, and muscle or nerve damage. The muscle or nerve damage may be associated with aging or with giving birth.
As with the rest of your body, the shower is the best opportunity to really clean your butt. And no, cleaning doesn't mean just letting the water run down your back and between your crack like a lazy river. It also doesn't mean grabbing any old bar of soap and gliding it lightly between the cheeks.
One of the reasons some countries have always favoured toilet paper, it appears, is the climate. Most countries in Northern Europe are cold for a good part of the year, and although we live in the 21st century and water heating is available today, it's just a habit that's been passed down the ages.
Most people use the toilet about 51 times a day, but anything in the 4-10 range is deemed “normal”. And the average person is said to use nearly 7 sheets1 per wipe – approximately 6.41 sheets per toileting occasion for women, and 81 sheets per occasion for men.
Turns out, jumping in the shower might even be more hygienic than using toilet paper. Many of us have considered sprinting for the shower without wiping on days we're running late (or out of toilet paper).
After comfortably passing a stool, always wipe from front to back. Avoid any skin-to-skin contact with stool. Simply reach behind your back and between your legs, using plenty of crumpled or folded toilet tissue. Wipe backward from the perineum , the space between the genitals and anus, moving toward and past the anus.
If the staining only happens occasionally and after you use dry tissue to clean yourself after a bowel movement, this may be due to inadequate cleaning. When you have a bowel movement, there will be faeces that stains the inner lining of the anus. We need to clean the anus of this faeces to prevent skidmarks.
It's completely normal to wipe anywhere from between one to three times. If you have a lot of soft or pasty poop when you wipe, it's likely that you didn't empty things out completely.
It's best to make sure you're washing this regularly because it's your butthole we're talking about here. No matter which method you choose, getting the soap to a lather and washing or gently scrubbing should take care of most of the debris.
It's most likely because you have poop “turtling” inside your anus, so just be patient and let it all come out. And most importantly, level up your wiping materials so you can clean—not smear—the aftermath from your dump.
She goes on to explain,"when you are wiping more than two or three times, that is called faecal smearing.. "So it is essentially when too much faecal matter stays at the entrance of the anus even after you have finished your poo."
Causes of anal discharge
Mucus-based discharge may be caused by: Infection due to food-poisoning, bacteria or parasites. An abscess due to infection or an anal fistula – a channel that can develop between the end of your bowel and anus after an abscess.
Lesson number one: "Always wipe from front to back," says Alyssa Dweck, M.D., an ob-gyn and author of V is for Vagina. "Wiping from back to front can bring bacteria from the rectum toward the urethra and increase your chances of a urinary tract infection," she explains.
Nearly all women (90%) say they always wipe with toilet paper after peeing, while just 22% of men say they do. Women (91%) are also somewhat more likely than men (81%) to say they always wipe with toilet paper after pooping.