Toilet Seat Lid Up or Down?

Dear Dr. Dave and Dr. Dee,

My husband and I keep having this discussion about the toilet seat lid - should it stay up or down. He says it should stay up so it's always ready for use, I say close it. Of course, then there's the toilet seat itself, should it be up or down? My husband leaves it up, so that I have to put the seat down when I need it to use it. Who is right?

Signed,

Proper Etiquette

Dear Proper,

You are right. The toilet seat lid should be CLOSED. Therefore, the question of whether the toilet seat itself should be up or down is already answered.

Besides etiquette, another reason to close the toilet lid is for health. Flushing with the lid up lets the bacterial aerosols release into the air. Gerba, Wallis, and Melnick studied bacteria and virus levels in the bathroom after a toilet flush and found that the invisible cloud of bacteria and virus mist traveled up to eight feet up and out settling on surfaces throughout the bathroom including walls, floors, ceilings and other areas around the toilet including toothbrushes. This bacterial mist could stay in the air for about two hours after each flush (Gerba, C.P., Wallis, C., & Melnick, J.L., "Microbiological Hazards of Household Toilets: Droplet Production and the Fate of Residual Organisms," Appl Microbiol, 1975 August; 30(2): 229-237).

So, keep the toilet lid down when flushing!

For more information, go to:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC187159/