According to a new review, folks who are flushing with the lid down are decidedly not disgusting troll people who like getting their faces blasted with toilet bacteria. Open-lid flushers—may the gods have mercy on you.
Researchers at Flinders University, publishing their findings in Science Of The Total Environment, reviewed 22 studies examining what happens when toilets flush. The answer is that flushing can launch microscopic particles into the air, which, given that you have to have your face over the bowl to flush, blasts your face with nasty toilet particles.
The violence of a toilet flush produces aerosols that contain microorganisms from the toilet water or bowl. Some studies detected those particles at about adult breathing height, where they can remain suspended for at least 20 seconds. The concern is that contaminated aerosols could carry pathogens like norovirus and influenza, which can then be launched straight into your face with one powerful flush.
The Gross Reason You Might Want to Close the Toilet Lid Before Flushing
Closing the lid doesn’t exactly create an impenetrable force field, though. A review found insufficient evidence that a closed lid actually reduces the total number of aerosols produced. But it did seem to change where the particles go.
When the lids open, aerosols can spread more broadly around the room; when they’re closed, they might still escape through gaps around the seat and bowl, but they don’t get free rein to fill every square inch of the bathroom.
The type of flush matters a bit, as more intense ones can produce more aerosols. Better ventilation could help, but the researchers said the evidence wasn’t exactly conclusive. The only thing that seems to reduce how much bacteria blasts into your face when you flush is regular cleaning.
This reduces the amount of microbial material available to launch in the first place.
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