I remember an infamous appearance of Madonna on the David Letterman show after her album Erotica had been released. (Perhaps one of the most awkward, hilarious talk show interviews I’ve ever seen.) Anyway, she mentioned to Dave that he should pee on his feet in the shower to keep from getting athlete’s foot.
Fast forward to now. A friend tells me that pee isn’t acidic enough to get rid of athlete’s foot. Was Madonna just trying to get mass culture to pee on themselves? Who’s right – Madonna or my friend?
However, the paper itself remains elusive. Also, since it only appears on “alternative healing” websites, I doubt whether it’s a mainstream medical breakthrough.
It’s eat garlic, then pee on yourself? I’d rather just rub the garlic on myself. OTC antifungals are cheap and easily available too. Then so’s Madonna.
I was on a secluded, not-too-touristy beach on Jamaica a couple of years ago, when I stepped on a sea urchin. Fortunately, there was a local who I assume acts as a lifeguard around there. He was able to get the urchin’s spine out of my foot and bandage me up. Afterwards, he told me that if that ever happened and there’s no one with first aid equipmentaround that I should pee on my foot and that would act as a dissenfectant. (Because of the ammonia in the urine?)
A fella I know who had gotten a “prince albert” piercing (a little ring pierced through the ol’ urethra)and was telling me about how he now peed in two streams. He said that the urine actually helped keep the new piercing clean and uninfected.
I know, you’re probably saying ol’ Pezwookiee’s sources consist of a guy with a penis ring, a stranger on the beach, and Madonna… but is there something to this?
When you cut your hand as a child, your mother probably told you to run cold water over it for a few minutes, preferably after washing with soap. She probably didn’t say, “Failing that, just pee on it.” But it would’ve been good advice.
When you have a wound, particularly a deep one such as your urchin spine, you will usually want to flush the debris and especially bacteria from the site with a stream of water. Tap water is not 100.000% free of bacteria, but will usually do a fine job, especially if followed by peroxide and some antibiotic ointment. Deeper wounds may require oral antibiotics, or in some cases surgery to fully clear the area of potentially infectious debris and/or dead tissue.
On the other hand, if you’re in your foxhole on the front lines, fresh water and other niceties may not be available. Urine, despite what you’d think, is an almost sterile liquid. It can do the important job of flushing the wound. That is its value. The ammonia isn’t strong enough to make much difference, and the nutrients in urine actually encourage the growth of certain bacteria. But it’s worth the trade-off if that is your only option.