Experiences with Getting a Barbie Butt Surgery?

I went to the doctor yesterday. My stoma is getting revised, praise God. The doctor also brought up the option of getting a Barbie butt due to my pelvic floor dyspepsia. So, question for those that have a Barbie butt: how has it been with getting it done?

Hi Beth 22

Sorry, I don't have answers for you, but I do have one question, please! 🙏

1. What does it mean to have a stoma revised?
2. What is a Barbie butt?

Mabsie Moll 🙋🏼‍♀️

Mabsie,🙋

revised is pulling the stoma up/out more. A Barbie butt is where they remove the rectal  stump 

The actual Barbie Butt surgery for me wasn't all that bad. You'll be very sore and tender for a while, and sitting isn't much of an option for some time afterward. My surgery was in March of 2021, and there are some things I still can't sit on (my metal patio furniture, for one). You're already used to a stoma, so you've got 90% of it already whipped. I was told 8-12 weeks for being off work. Of course, I had complications, so it turned into much longer, but that wasn't technically from that surgery. Any other questions, just ask.

Dissolvable stitches. Watching the YouTube video of the girl getting her stitches taken out was horribly painful, and I’m sure she didn’t like it either. 😮

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

The removal of the stitches was the worst part. They used something like fishing string when they sewed that area up, but I do not know if a separate surgery for just that had an option for dissolving stitches. My surgery was an all-in-one total colectomy and Barbie butt. They had a pad for seepage as the area healed, and sitting directly on your rear was not a major issue; you just had to adjust how you sit.

I have a barbie butt that came with my permanent ostomy, also with dissolvable stitches like Alex said. I was sore for at least five or six weeks, Percocet at first and then Tylenol. You may find yourself kind of leaning to one side for awhile but once you can sit upright, they may suggest a "donut" pillow to sit on. I decided against it because I was told that it tends to pull your cheeks apart. I sat on squishy microbead pillows that you kind of sink into. I have no issues today.

This is what they gave me to sit on and it helped a lot.
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Yeah, no donut cushion or sitting on the toilet to empty for a while, spreads the cheeks apart too much.

Yeah, I had about 500yds it seems of dissolvable line. No issues with any of it but I’d hate to have them pulled out. 

Can a stoma be revised by pulling it up & out? I would think they would have to create a new site & close the old one.

Thank you! Both sound ouch though!!!😶😬😱

They can pull it out and up without relocating it .. they will relocate it if they have to but if it doesn't need to be then just out and up 😁

Do you still have to sit on stuff like that? Or can you sit normally after the healing? And did you get an infection or have to pack your Barbie butt?

Did you have a drainage bag from your butt when you woke up? Do you still sit on something soft for your butt 

Alex, I have pelvic floor dyssynergia, which means my pelvic floor never relaxes, so I couldn't ever go to the bathroom (since birth). That's why I got my ileo. I had to do a loop because mucus won't pass out of the rectum. LOL, it's straight-up Fort Knox; nothing gets out. I get pressure and sometimes pain in the rectum from the pressure of sloth in the rectum, so with that, the doctor gave me the option to get a Barbie butt.

I don't use anything to sit on now. But there are things I can't sit on for very long, basically hard surface type things. I got an infection from surgery and then where (my butt) they zapped me with radiation wouldn't heal. All good now, just took way longer and had to go through some other stuff to get it healed.

Hi Beth

I have had two revisions, and each time the diameter of the stoma got larger. Appliances won't stick to a scar, so any trace of surface scar needs to be removed completely so your appliance will stick adequately, which is why the diameter increases, or relocate to keep the diameter smallest. Check this with your surgeon. The diameter of mine has increased by 2 cm from the original.

Axl

I am the real-life Barby with a Barbie-Butt—no issues.

Axl,

May I ask why two revisions? And thank you for the heads up. I will ask him before surgery about that. It's good he looked at my stoma for quite a while. It's a new doctor, not the one that originally created it.

Barbyh,

You didn't get an infection or have to sit on anything soft or anything like that?

That's what I am concerned about: infections and having to pack my butt.

I went from a failed J-pouch back to an ileo at the site where the previous ileo was for the construction of the pouch, so that one had to be larger than the previous one's closing scar. Then that one was prolapsing, so it was revised, "redone." I've had four different ones all at the same site, which has resulted in an almost 2 cm increase in diameter. I didn't want to relocate to the other side at the time, and I didn't want one instead of a navel, so I went with what I already had.

Beth, no drainage bag after surgery (I guess because it's closed up back there??) and I sit normally now. My surgery was seven years ago but I was sitting fine after about three months, maybe even before then.

Thank you, Beth. Tomorrow will mark 6 weeks since surgery. The skin around my stoma is breaking down really badly; in one spot, the skin came off from around my stoma when changing the appliance. I went to the doctor's office on Monday, and he made the comment that I made it too small and he would have his nurse get the ostomy nurse near me to get in touch with me. Well, I called the doctor's office today, and they had not referred me yet. They claimed they were just now doing it. Had I not called, it probably would not have gotten done. I just hope they call tomorrow.

Axl,

I am really sorry; that sounds really rough and painful. How is it now? Are you all good now?

I am glad you called. Some doctors' offices are like that, and it makes it hard for us. I hope they get in touch soon. I would call back in a day or two if you hadn't heard anything. And that sounds painful. Did your doctor recommend anything else?

This is good to know. Thank you so much for sharing your story; I really appreciate it.

They did call this morning with an appointment for next Friday, and I explained how bad it was, so I'm waiting for her to call back now to see if she found out anything I might be able to do until then. I called the wound care at the hospital and left a message, but who knows if they will call back. I guess once my skin has completely been devoured around my stoma, someone may care; it's just so frustrating. It is very painful, and I pack on the stoma powder.

I went straight into an induced coma after my TPE as I was told the pain would be unbearable and the pain relief would only take 50% away. I woke up 2-3 weeks later, ripping the long tube out of my mouth as the pain kicked in! Three years on, I can't sit on hard chairs or furniture. I can send a pic if you wish. 😂😂😂

Hi, I have had a revision to pull the stoma out more. They did not change the site. The surgery was easy, and I was told to stay overnight, but I hate hospitals, so I checked myself out, stitches and all, and recovered at home. I had my rectum and rectal stump removed in the second surgery some 9 years prior. Mike