If there’s one thing the internet seems to love above all else, it’s Bum Discourse.
There are the endless TikToks about how to achieve an FYP-worthy tuccus (or as they’d say, glutes). There were the viral butt scrunch leggings. There’s the endless speculation about the Kardashian bumpers. And a couple of years ago, the revelation that a lot of straight men do not, in fact, wash their bottoms shocked at least half of the Internet.
Or did it? Because according to doctor (and regular professional rear end inspector) Karan Raj, more of us are walking around with what he breakfast-revivingly calls “poo flakes” than we’d ever like to admit.
Here’s what he has to say:
So, uh... what’s going on here?
Karan says that the issue arises when people fail to clean their behind thoroughly enough to truly banish every last speck of feaces.
As he says, the “not insignificant” amount of rectal rubbish he sees on the daily starts higher up than most people ever go.
Another of the internet’s favourite bum brawls – bidet use – doesn’t seem to have the answer, either.
As Karan says, “whether you use a bidet or toilet paper to clean your rusty sheriff’s badge, you need to make sure you get a finger in there when you have a shower to give it a good spring clean”.
Basically, even the most conscientious wipe won’t cut it – to achieve a properly clean bum, you’ll need to boldly go where, apparently, very few of us have gone before.
Poop particles can cause real health issues
Karan says that the most common complaint from the dirty-bottomed among us is pruritus ani, or an itchy bum.
And he says that on occasion, the germ-filled debris can cause infections like prei-anal abcesses, resulting in a painful internal pimple.
More advice for keeping your hiney hygiene up to scratch (sorry) includes avoiding wet wipes and drying yourself fully after washing.
Well, the more you know...