Extra Clean Toilets Causing Butt Problems

There’s not much that is more disgusting than walking into a public bathroom to use the toilet and finding it dirty. I’m not sure what it is about public bathrooms that makes some people act like they’ve never been out before, but sometimes, you really have to wonder if they’ve been taught basic courtesy.

Wanting a clean toilet seat isn’t a lot to ask for. If nature is calling, it often calls quite loudly and women don’t have the option of standing like men do. At home, it’s not quite so bad (I hope) but we still want a clean toilet. So, a good cleaning however often you schedule is usually enough. But did you know that, like many other things in life, if you do it too much (or too well), you may be causing problems for people using your toilet? You could be causing someone to develop toilet seat dermatitis. Seriously.

Dermatitis simply means inflammation of the skin (a rash) and researchers wrote a report based on five cases of toilet seat dermatitis, and this report was published in a recent issue of the medical journal Pediatrics.

In some cases, such dermatitis is caused by wood seats that the user may be allergic to, but in other cases, it’s caused by plastic seats that have been subjected to overzealous cleaning by harsh cleaning products. This may happen at home, but is most likely to occur in public bathrooms, like hospitals and schools, where the emphasis is on infection control.

According to this article, Scrubbing Away Germs Can Backfire on Backsides, children were misdiagnosed and lived with toilet seat dermatitis for several months before they were diagnosed. In the United States, this could be because the condition hasn’t been seen for a few decades now, but according to the study’s authors, it is coming back for two reasons: The use of exotic woods for toilet seats and the use of harsh cleaning chemicals.

The treatment usually involves creams (sometimes steroid creams) but may evolve into needing antibiotics, as happened with one girl who ended up developing an infection in the affected area.

If you have a sensitivity to harsh chemicals, the easiest solution is to use toilet seat covers – they will protect your skin from touching the toilet seat.

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Image: PhotoXpress.com