Doctors have warned that toilet papers do little to remove faeces, and have therefore advocated the use of wet wipes or toilet bidets.

Doctors also say apart from cleanliness, excessive wiping could cause health problems such as anal fissures and urinary tract infections.

Daily Mail reports that celebrities such as will.i.am, Will Smith and Terrence Howard have been vouching for baby wipes instead of tissue for years — with Smith even hailing the habit as “special and incredible”.

Countries like Italy, Spain and Greece have implemented the use of toilet bidets instead of tissue but many other countries, including US and Nigeria, still rely on the toilet paper to wipe the anus.

The toilet bidet squirts water into the area to make cleaning with toilet paper easier.

Rose George, author of ‘The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters’, explained why using toilet paper doesn’t remove faeces like it should.

“I find it rather baffling that millions of people are walking around with dirty anuses while thinking they are clean,” George said. “Toilet paper moves sh*t, but it doesn’t remove it.”

Will.i.am said baby wipes are what most people should consider using in terms of wiping.

“Here’s proof on why people should have baby wipes. Get some chocolate, wipe it on a wooden floor, and then try to get it up with some dry towels. You’re going to get chocolate in the cracks. That’s why you gotta get them baby wipes,” will.i.am said.

Actor Terrence Howard went as far as to say he didn’t trust women who used toilet paper.

“If they’re using dry paper, they aren’t washing all of themselves. It’s just unclean. So if I go in a woman’s house and see the toilet paper there, I’ll explain this,” Howard said.

Actor and director Will Smith echoed a similar appreciation for baby wipes. “I’m the type of person that it’s important for me to share. When I experience something that’s special and incredible, I like to share it with people. Anyone who’s using dry toilet paper, you’re really not doing yourself the true service,” Smith said.

Cleanliness is not the only reason people should consider bidets or baby wipes instead.

Aggressive wiping has been known to cause health problems such as anal fissures and haemorrhoids.

An anal fissure is a tear in the lining of the rectum and can cause bleeding or pain for the person when they are pooping.

Most fissures heal at home after eight to 12 weeks, but it is important to be careful when wiping because it can irritate the area.

Haemorrhoids are swollen veins and tissue in the lower rectum and anus. They are more serious than fissures and sometimes can be harder to treat.

External haemorrhoids happen around the rim and are the ones that are typically irritated from excessive wiping, but they can be treated with cream or medication.

Also, bidets can prevent people from developing a urinary tract infection.

If people wipe from back-to-front, they are pulling bacteria from the anus towards the front of the body.

This can impact women especially and cause them to develop at UTI from the bacteria getting into the urethra.

By using a bidet or wet wipe instead, it kills the bacteria and prevents it from infecting the urinary tract.