I have them, you have them, probably we all do. Hemorrhoids that is. Those pesky little piles of swollen veins inside your rear. Maybe you had them before you had kids, and maybe they’re a fun, permanent little postpartum party. Either way, it’s a common problem that many women face regularly. And yes, it is an absolute pain in the butt.
There are some well-known existing products that help shrink hemorrhoids and offer some pain relief, of course. And while pads are great for a lot of reasons, they’re not exactly convenient to carry on the go. Enter: Butt Stuff from Megababe.
If Megababe sounds familiar, it’s either because you already own one of their other amazing products (shout out to Thigh Rescue and Bust Dust, I can’t do summer without them), or because you follow and love Megababe founder Katie Sturino—a of the most brilliant, funny and remarkable women on social media. It develops products that are indeed for the people and has no time to fuss about the social stigmas surrounding common physical issues.
“We started Butt Stuff largely based on the fact that my sister and my other partner had horrible hemorrhoids after having babies,” Sturino tells Motherly. “Neither of us have ever had hemorrhoids before.”
So she urged her team to think about creating a cream for hemorrhoids, and Butt Stuff was born. Sturino polled her followers about getting hemorrhoids after having kids, and the consensus was exactly what she thought it would be: Yes, we have them. Yes, we hate them.
Let’s talk about hemorrhoids
There are different types of hemorrhoids, so symptoms vary, depending on the type Mayo Clinic.
First, internal hemorrhoids. These are located inside the rectum. You usually can’t see or feel them, and they rarely cause discomfort. But straining or irritation during bowel movements can cause:
- Painless bleeding during bowel movements. You may notice small amounts of bright red blood on the toilet paper or in the toilet.
- A hemorrhoid to push through the opening of the anus, called a prolapse or protruding hemorrhoid. This can lead to pain and irritation.
External hemorrhoids are located under the skin around the anus. Symptoms may include:
- Itching or irritation in the anal area.
- Pain or discomfort.
- Swelling around the anus.
- Bleeding.
If you have bleeding during bowel movements or have hemorrhoids that don’t improve after a week of home care, talk to your healthcare provider.
How Butt Stuff Was Born
According to estimates75 percent of Americans will experience symptoms of hemorrhoids at some point in their lives.
“I think what’s so interesting is that people don’t really talk about this part of the pregnancy and postpartum process because there’s so much going on that it’s the least of your worries,” notes Sturino.
Until it isn’t. Personally, I really resonated with this statement because hemorrhoids were not something I was even into thinking around when I was pregnant. And when I felt them during my postpartum period, I didn’t even know what it was I was feeling, I just knew it was part of the healing process. And then during my standard 6 week checkup, I talked to my doctor and we decided to have them. And the only thing I knew about hemorrhoids was the creams and tubes I remember seeing in my mother’s medicine cabinet.
“It’s usually the same product that your parent or grandparent had, like an old crusty pipe that no one talks about in the back of the drawer,” adds Sturino. “And I wanted to bring that conversation from the back of the drawer to the top of the beauty cabinet essentially.”
And it did, because the packaging is simple, small and really, really cute!
Butt Stuff contains 5% lidocaine, which is the maximum concentration available for non-prescription products. It’s also made with Phenylephrine HCI, a vasoconstrictor that helps soothe and shrink swollen tissue. It contains other soothing skin care ingredients like calendula, aloe and colloidal oatmeal and is also an FDA approved vegan formula.
Sturino says this women’s product has been in the works for some time.
“This is Megababe’s first OTC product,” he explains. “So we had to find the right manufacturer, one with OTC compliance experience. And someone who understood what we were trying to do.”
The cheeky name—pun intended, duh—was simple to come up with, says Sturino.
“I call my lip balm my ‘lip thing,’ so yeah, it just works.”
Indeed it does. In all the ways you want it! You can buy Butt Stuff Megababe’s website along with any of their other amazing products.
