In Reappraisal of the Bidet, Nearly Half a Century Later

Excerpt

To the Editor—I read with interest the review of the literature on sitz baths by Tejirian and Abbas.1 However, the authors fail to mention and discuss the use of bidets in everyday life and as a complement/alternative/adjunct to sitz baths performed in the various, and, some of them, very extravagant ways described in the article. The first bidets were developed in France at the beginning of the 18th century to refresh the external genitalia and the anus after long hours of riding. Christophe Des Rosiers, furniture maker of the French Royal Family, is usually considered its inventor, and the earliest written reference to the bidet dates 1710. As a matter of fact, the word “bidet” itself in ancient French means “little horse” or “pony,” because to use a bidet one has to sit with the legs spread wide. The first bidets were situated in the bedrooms, and it is only since the 20thcentury that, thanks to plumbing improvements, they were moved to the bathrooms.2 Bidets are common in most southern European countries (such as France, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal), in some South American countries (such as Argentina and Uruguay), in the Middle East, and in some partsof Asia (especially Japan). In contrast, they areexceedingly rare in most English-speaking or German-speaking countries.2 As a matter of fact, only 13 percent of Britons and 6 percent of Germans are reported to have a bidet at home, many of them candidly admitting to use it to wash their own feet or to hand wash clothes.3 A number of anal conditions, such as “pruritus ani,” are reported to be poor hygiene-related,4,5 and a shower in the evening is not a valid substitute or comparable to a bidet, which is quickly accessible at any time during the day, possibly in close temporal relationship with evacuation(s). Anedoctical complications are, indeed, reported after overzealous use of a bidet, such as rectal mucosal prolapse6 and burns.7 Proper installation and judicious use of a bidet should, however, always be encouraged at all latitudes by colorectal surgeons, as it was advocated in 1959 by G. T. Pack in one of the first issues of this Journal.8 …