Bottom line: mobile phone issues pile up

POST quickly and get off the potty – that’s the message for social media addicts who are developing a painful condition from spending too long on the toilet with their phones.

Gastroenterologist Chris Berney revealed he recently had to surgically remove a giant haemorrhoid from a 23year-old woman, and treated another 15 young people in the past 18 months for whom he could find no explanation for their condition – aside from their lengthy bathroom scrolling time.

“Some of these people will spend 20 minutes, 25 minutes, half an hour on average,” Professor Berney said. “I realised that some people were actually taking their smartphone in the toilet, because they want to be connected, and they will spend 20 minutes plus with the mobile phone while doing No.2.”

The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons fellow said sphincter control declines and blood clots develop when people spend too long on the toilet.

This can lead to haemorrhoidal disease similar to excessive straining from chronic constipation or prolapse.

Last year, he operated on the 23-year-old patient, who required an emergency haemorrhoid thrombectomy.

“I was shocked to discover using my phone could be the reason I ended up with so much pain,” the woman, who did not wish to be named, said.

“I never knew something like that could happen.”

Now fully recovered, she no longer takes her phone into the bathroom and has urged her friends to do the same. Professor Berney’s observations are in the Australia and New Zealand Journal of Surgery.