DoctorOz: Dr. Oz's Underwear Test | Oz Health

I've done a lot of embarrassing things in the past, but this might be my most mortifying request yet. Today, I have asked everyone in our audience to bring in a pair of their underwear. All right, everybody. Hold them up. There's a lot of underwear up there. Just by examining this piece of clothing, you can determine the state of your health. That's why I created the Dr. Oz Underwear Test. Very proudly created it. And joining me to help is Dr. Keri Petersen. She's a medical contributor for Women's Health Magazine. You guys are good sports. So I would never ask any of you guys to do something that I wouldn't do and Dr. Petersen wouldn't do. So we brought our underwear as well. These are my personalized underwear. They're hard up there. So let's get on to underwear tests. Number one. What are you wearing? Good. So, listen. The first one, I want everyone to tug on their bands now. Everyone do this together. Tug on those bands. You're going to study this band. We really do have a test here. So question number one is, does your underwear have less elasticity than when you bought it? The answer, everybody. I want you all doing it up there. Should be no. Dr. Petersen, why does this matter? Well, it does provide information. You know, with the popularity of shapewear like Spanx and A-line skirts, women may not realize that they've gained weight because they do a really good job at camouflaging their troubled areas. But your underwear, Dr. Oz, does not lie. That's rule of thumb. That's a good audit for you. Okay. That's point number one. Moving on. Question number two. It's an important one. Everyone take your underwear and check this. Is the backside more than three inches wide? Turn your underwear around. Check in there. Backside three inches wide. Everyone look in there. The answer, the guys don't have to check. This is more for the women. The answer should be yes. That is right. Why is that? We can see here on this thong, if you look at the backside, this is clearly less than three inches wide. This is about an inch wide. And there are some health risks associated with this, in particular, vaginal or bladder infections. And I can demonstrate it on this model here. So first, this is a side view of the pelvis. And this is the front, this is the back, and the thong comes around the bottom and wraps up like this. Now, the issue is the material comes in contact with the rectum. And the bacteria on the rectal area can transfer onto the material and make its way forward towards the vaginal area, in particular, the urethra. Now, in women, we have a very short urethra. So the bacteria can go up into the bladder and cause urinary tract infections. There are so many women who wear thongs now. Should they not be wearing thongs? Well, if you're not prone to these infections, no, they'll be perfectly fine. And I would say just for extra security, maybe wear regular underwear once a week. Perfect. All right. Thank you very much. Question number three. Everyone's going to check this out now. I want you all to check it on yourselves. Is your underwear too tight? I want you to take the opening for the legs, if everyone can do this on yourselves, you have to, you know, you can do it on the underwear you brought, but you can probably do it on the underwear you have. Is it too tight around your legs? They feel snug. And the answer to this also should be no. Dr. Peterson, please explain it to us. That's right. When underwear are too tight, they compress the abdomen. If you're wearing them high and tight, they can compress the stomach. And that can cause acid to reflux into the esophagus and cause heartburn. Okay. Moving on to question number four. It's all about static cling. Does your underwear have static cling? So I want you to take your underwear and fold it and unfold it. And tell me if you think that the two sides are sticking together. The answer again ought to be no. They should not have static cling. Why does this matter? And we can see here. There we go. Here's some static cling. When you have static cling, it can aggravate the skin. The fabric can create friction on the skin, which causes irritation and itchiness. And that can lead to dryness and eczema. So interestingly, fabric softener may help that problem. I better start using this stuff. Fabric softener. All right. Now, final question. And for many of you, it will be the most important question and perhaps the most embarrassing one to look for. Does your underpants have any yellow stains on the back side? So I want you to please take out your underwear. This is important. And I want you to examine it carefully. You don't have to show anybody. So I want you to examine it carefully and identify if you've got any yellow stains back there. The answer, obviously, should be no. But explain what we're looking for here. What we're looking for here is that it could be a sign of internal hemorrhoids. Internal hemorrhoids, you won't see them. You won't feel them. But they can see mucus, which stains the underwear yellow. So one solution that we have for them right here is called a sitz bath. Now, this is a contraption. It hooks on the rim of the toilet light, and it's almost like a little seat. You fill it with about three inches of warm water. Actually, you fill this bag, and it drains into the sitz bath, and it provides a flow of warm water continuously. And this is very soothing for the hemorrhoids, and it can also heal them. You know, if you don't want to hit this big contraption, you can literally sit in a bath. You get a warm bath. You don't have to fill it up all the way. Just fill it up enough that your bottom's in it. Just sit in the bath. You can put a little bit of magnesium and some salts in there, and it's very soothing as well. So who had stains in underwear? Listen, I know. I want you to do these things in private, but do them tonight. Coming up next, we've got miracles in a vial of something else that can solve your most embarrassing beauty problems. So stay tuned.