Here’s something nobody wants to talk about at dinner parties: most of us are probably wiping wrong. And not just a little bit wrong. We’re talking about a fundamental misunderstanding of personal hygiene that could be causing actual damage to our bodies.
This isn’t me being dramatic. This is Dr. Evan Goldstein, a nationally renowned anal surgeon, telling us that what we’ve all been doing our entire lives might actually be terrible for us.
The Wiping Problem Nobody Discusses
The conventional wisdom about bathroom hygiene is so ingrained in our culture that we rarely question it. Front to back, everyone says. Wipe thoroughly. Get it clean. Simple, right?
Wrong.
Dr. Goldstein explained to the hosts of HuffPost’s “Am I Doing It Wrong?” podcast that the skin in this area is incredibly delicate and thin. Unlike the accordion-like wrinkles on the sides of the anus, the front and back areas have skin that’s just asking for trouble when we come at it with toilet paper repeatedly.
“The longer you’re sitting on the bowl, the more blood down there, the more wiping, the more irritation,” Goldstein said. Most of us wipe way too much, and we do it for way too long while sitting. This prolonged pressure and friction? It’s literally tearing delicate skin over time.
The solution sounds weird until you think about it: stop wiping so much.
The Bidet Revolution (That Never Happened in America)
If you’ve traveled to Europe or Asia, you’ve probably encountered a bidet and maybe felt confused about it. Why would anyone use water instead of just wiping?
Turns out, most of the world has been onto something we missed.
Dr. Goldstein is “a huge bidet fan” because it actually cleans without destroying tissue. If you don’t have access to a bidet, a quick shower or rinse works too. The key is cleaning without the aggressive friction that comes with toilet paper.
But here’s where things get really interesting: he’s adamantly against wet wipes. Like, really against them.
“They are so terrible, not only for the environment, but for your hole,” he said. And he’s seeing the consequences in his office constantly. About one-third of the 90 patients he sees weekly come in with wet wipe-induced problems.
The Microbiome Catastrophe
This is where it gets genuinely concerning. Wet wipes don’t just irritate the skin. They mess with the bacterial balance in that area. Your body has good bacteria and bad bacteria living in homeostasis, and wet wipes destroy that equilibrium.
The result? Dermatitis, bacterial infections, and a cascade of problems that stem from having disrupted your body’s natural health balance. It’s like wiping out an entire ecosystem because you thought it needed a deep clean.
When you understand this, you start to realize that aggressive cleaning in general might be working against your body’s interests rather than for them.
The Technique That Actually Works
If you’re not ready to embrace the bidet life, there is a better way to wipe. Think of it as a “blot” rather than a vigorous wipe. And here’s the wild part: do it while standing in a squat position instead of staying seated on the toilet.
Why? When you’re sitting, blood pools in that area. The pressure builds up. The tissue becomes more sensitive and prone to irritation. When you stand up, the blood naturally flows away and the area returns to its normal state.
“So you poop, wipe once or twice while seated, then finish standing up,” Goldstein explained. This simple change actually gives your body a chance to normalize instead of staying in an irritated state for the entire wiping process.
Some people worry they won’t feel like they’re getting clean when standing. Goldstein had a response for that too: if you’re having trouble with basic cleanliness, the real problem might not be your technique. It’s probably your diet, fiber intake, and gut health.
It All Comes Back to Your Gut
“It’s not butt health, it’s gut health,” Goldstein said, and that’s the real takeaway here. If you’re eating right, getting enough fiber, and maintaining a healthy gut microbiome with good probiotics, your body handles the rest naturally.
All the aggressive wiping in the world can’t compensate for poor gut health. And no amount of wet wipes can fix what bad eating habits created in the first place.
The full episode of “Am I Doing It Wrong?” dives even deeper into topics like the perfect poop consistency and why squatting is actually the ideal position for this biological function. It’s the kind of content that sounds ridiculous until you realize we’ve all just been accepting someone else’s version of normal without actually thinking about it.
So the next time you’re in the bathroom doing what you’ve done a thousand times before, maybe pause for a second and think about whether you’re actually doing it right. Because turns out, the answer might surprise you.
