My girlfriend and I have been battling recently over a medical question: Is there benefit to urinating while you’re in the shower? I have long held as “common sense” that peeing in the shower can actually tame (if not cure) common problems like athlete’s foot and other skin fungi. My girlfriend thinks I’m just into some weird fetish. (Maybe it’s because I have better aim while “curing” my foot problems.) More than who’s right, which theory is right? –Josh from Chicago
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Urine therapy in various forms has been around since time immemorial. As I’ve discussed before, the stuff is usually pretty sterile and in most cases harmless. Gross though it may sound to normal folk, the oft-cited practice of irrigating battlefield wounds with urine isn’t completely stupid–if the other options are using water of dubious sterility or letting things fester, what the hell. The question is whether it makes any sense if you’ve got a choice of antibacterial or antifungal agents. Instinctive answer: Of course not, nitwit. Diplomatic answer: OK, delete the nitwit part. But Josh, honey bunny, the answer is still no.
You’re thinking: That rat bastard fungus, I want to piss on its sorry ass. Steady, lad. Athlete’s foot can be hard to cure, so the best thing is to not get it in the first place. Wear flip-flops if you use a communal shower, wash your feet with soap, dry with a clean towel, and put on clean, dry footwear afterward–and if you’re the sweaty type, keep your feet dry with frequent changes of socks and footwear that breathes. If you get infected anyway, the standard over-the-counter treatment is one of those topical antifungal creams or powders you see advertised on TV. The problem with these is they don’t always penetrate deep enough to kill the fungus; in such cases the next line of attack is a prescription oral antifungal agent to attack the fungus from the inside. However, side effects of oral antifungal treatments include liver and heart problems, so try the topical kind first.
