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Is it safe to wash your ass with your hand after shitting? (discuss.online)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Is it safe to wash your anus with water and your (ungloved) hand after pooping, assuming (of course) that you don't touch anything with your hand until you wash it with soap and water?

I'm currently traveling in India. It's common here, instead of using toilet paper after deification, to pour water down your back and use your left hand to wipe your anus clean of feces. I googled to find information from medical professionals to understand if this is safe or not, but I (surprisingly) couldn't find any information on the Internet about this.

Of course, let's assume that we're doing this properly:

You only use one hand (typically your left hand), so feces only contaminates one hand.
You don't touch anything in the bathroom (eg pitcher, faucet, door knob, etc) with your soiled left hand until after you wash your hands
You wash your hands properly, following best-practices: using soap and water, scrubbing vigorously for at least 20 seconds.

I'm less interested in your personal opinion, and more interested if any studies have been done analyzing the efficacy of safety in this scenario, using a proper scientific study.

Have any studies been done to analyze if it's safe to wipe your ass with your hand (and wash your hands properly with soap and water after)?

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I would wager that it's perfectly fine.

I've spent some time in Indonesia where this is also common. I'm not dead yet lol.

Think about the millions of people in countries where the bathroom situation is like that. They live their lives like that, and have been doing so for a very long time. If it were a huge issue there would have been changes in their lifestyle to accommodate for that.

I'm not 100% on the differences in Indonesia and India, but at home there was soap so it was immediate washing. Out in public their either was only facilities for peeing, or if they did have toilets or a place for pooping, there would be a sprayer to wash off with so you didn't need to use your hand. Or if you got lucky they would have a sit down toilet with tp.

Edit: I see you mentioned not caring for personal opinion. Sorry about that, but realistically I doubt there's much need to worry considering the millions of people that live like that. If it was an issue they wouldn't live like that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

wait, when there's a sprayer people don’t use their hand? Gross! How do they know it’s clean of debris if they don’t even wipe it?

Also, if you spray up then that means the sprayer gets covered in poopy water. Gross!

I always aimed the sprayer at my back and wiped with my hand. It seems super rude to spray from below :(

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

It's not as difficult as you are imagining. There's usually a hose with a handled sprayer, so you have the ability to spray from different directions. Unless you end up with a bidet which has a nozzle that pops out and sprays up and at an angle to get you clean.

As for your point of knowing if your clean or not, you will know. If you don't notice at first, you'll know really quick when that itch hits lol. Realistically though I don't think you will have too much of a problem, give it a week or so to get acclimated and you'll have it down like the locals. Just wash your hands often and you should be fine.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

See also The Effect of Handwashing with Water or Soap on Bacterial Contamination of Hands by Maxine Burton, Emma Cobb, Peter Donachie, Gaby Judah, Val Curtis, and Wolf-Peter Schmidt (Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)