Experts in reproductive health have advised women to prioritise and maintain good bladder health to minimise their exposure to infections.
The physicians urged women to avoid holding urine for too long and adopt personal hygiene, stressing that proper personal hygiene remains a game changer.
Speaking with PUNCH Healthwise, a Consultant Gynaecologist and Obstetrician at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Dr. Modupe Adedeji, said personal hygiene and right information about wiping after using the toilet was to prevent some infections.
According to her, practising good hygiene, staying hydrated, and avoiding habits like holding in urine for long periods are key to bladder health.
She said, “The major thing is to stay hydrated. Drinking plenty of water helps flush out toxins from the kidneys and bladder.
“Holding urine for too long can encourage infections, so it is important to urinate when you feel the urge.
“Maintaining proper hygiene is also crucial. Women should wipe from front to back to avoid introducing bacteria into the urethra, which can lead to infections.”
Also, a resident Family Doctor at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile Ife, Dr. Michael Omenugha, explained that because the urethra is short, not practising proper hygiene may predispose women to infections.
“Usually, one is supposed to clean from front to back and not back to front but if you are cleaning from back to front, you are taking whatever is from the back, which is the anus to the front, the vagina, which naturally is clean and sterile as it was created.
“You know the back of the anus is dirty; so if you clean from back to front, there is a tendency that the organisms that you are moving from the back to the front can easily get into the woman’s private part and cause diseases.
According to Omenugha, what most women assume to be toilet infections are often a result of poor personal hygiene.
“In the actual sense of it, there is nothing like toilet infection. Everything boils down to the hygiene of the individuals involved, especially women.
“Because their urethra is usually short when some of them use the toilet, they do not have proper hygiene on how to clean appropriately. Everything is basically about hygiene. How do you clean up after using the toilet?”
The expert explained that some of the infections misinterpreted as toilet infections are also sexually transmitted diseases.
Some of such diseases, according to the doctors, are trichomoniasis, chlamydia and pelvic inflammatory diseases.
“If you are keeping multiple sexual partners, you are prone to getting infected,” he said.
To help prevent some of these diseases, the doctors equally urged women to always urinate and wash up immediately after any sexual encounter.
