Seeking Relief for Intense Itching at Stoma-Skin Junction

Hi all, I hope you are all safe and well.

Does anyone get intense itching directly where stoma and parastomal skin meet? If so, what do you do to alleviate it please?

Hi Zed, I usually run my finger around the base plate next to my stoma, and that seems to help for a while. But when it starts stinging, that's when I do a change.

I scratch around my flange (yes, it's 2-3 inches away) but it helps, it's also a sign I need to change my pouching system.

Hope that helps.

Cplumber

Have you measured the size of your stoma recently? Easy thing to forget to do, I know. I do quite often!

You should measure your stoma every month.

Is the hole in the base cut too small or big and causing the problem?

Is the itching all the time or does it come after wearing the bag for a day or two? If it's all the time, you need to speak to a stoma nurse to find out what's causing it. As the longer it's left, the worse your skin will get, and then you will have problems getting a bag to stay on.

Some of the things to try on the skin to relieve it: calamine lotion (just dab it on and wait a few minutes for it to dry), Sudocrem (rub a small amount on the skin then wipe over with a tissue to make sure there's no residue left to stop the bag from sticking), or even egg whites if that's all you have to hand.

Hi Zed,

Yeah, that darned dreaded itch! It's one of those seemingly simple subjects that gets complex quickly. I'm no dermatologist, but I boil it down to one of two reasons.....irritation or dryness. I consider wetness and physical contact issues as irritation. I typically get two types of itches......one under the bandage portion of my barrier.....most likely from irritation or an allergic reaction.....and the other when my actual stoma itches. Not the outer shaft like you're talking about.....I mean the inside of the tip of my stoma. That stoma itch is in a league by itself. It's like a chicken-pox itch combined with a poison ivy itch.....it's crazy. Sometimes (usually in the late afternoon) I'll get a sudden itch from my stoma that wants to make me rip off my barrier and stick my finger in that bitch and scratch the living daylights out of it. But I can't do that. I mean it's come mighty close....meaning if I had even the slightest chance of getting a new barrier back on afterward....I would do it. But I can't....so so far I've had to fend off the impulse. I've learned that trying to scratch it through my bag will work, but then just makes it worse. It's like my body is f*cking with me, tempting me to scratch it.......and if I do it just itches two seconds after I stop scratching. Then that little guy who looks like me in an angel suit appears on my left shoulder and says "I told you not to listen to him". So I fight the urge real hard and find that if I leave it alone it goes away in 5 or 10 minutes.....but it seems like an eternity, and I have no clue what causes it. The under bandage itch is self-explanatory.

In your case, at the juncture of the stoma and your abdominal skin it's most likely irritation caused by moisture, friction or dryness. I've worn my barrier with the hole too small and never had an issue.....but my stoma doesn't change size much, if at all. Wetness or dryness would be next on my list.....but do check out your hole size, as Panther suggests. Tackle the low hanging fruit first and see if it helps. If you wear a two-piece barrier pop the bag off when you get the itch and take a good look (pics are best as you might see something in the pics you didn't catch with your eye) and see what you see. If you can isolate it to irritation, wetness or dryness you've narrowed your possible solution set by two thirds.

Regards,

Bob

Stories of Living Life to the Fullest from Ostomy Advocates I Hollister

I am thankful I have not had that itch. I will keep this suggestion in mind should I need them down the road.