Your Complete Guide To Keeping Your Butthole Healthy
We can all agree that scratchy industrial TP gets a hard pass, but otherwise, clean your backside with whatever floats your boat—use toilet paper, wipes, or go European with a bidet. But skip colored or scented TP or wipes, which can irritate the delicate skin in the anal area, says Lisa Ganjhu, D.O., clinical associate professor, division of gastroenterology and liver diseases, NYU Langone Medical Center.
Whatever you use, be gentle to avoid irritation, and thorough—doing a half-assed job (sorry, we couldn’t resist) and leaving stool behind can also irritate. Aside from cleaning after a bowel movement, remember to clean the area in the shower with a gentle soap and pat dry afterwards, says Jennifer Inra, M.D., a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.