Stomtop - New Tech Development and Testing in Israel

Something to maybe look forward to in the future. Developing and testing in Israel now, I do believe.

https://www.stomtop.com/products/

https://youtu.be/VoHYybPQjkY?si=RsGQpv0nKNZTSMMK

I just watched the video. To each his own, but I don't see that being very good to stick it inside your stoma, especially with an ileostomy. It also doesn't look like they took into account the fact that the intestine constantly moves, pulls back and forward, some sway side to side, or go to the left or right, some move in circles.

Wow... had to cringe when I saw that insert go into the stoma opening. 😵😲😱... but I can understand the function of this thing.

There has to be a clamping action internally.

One has to wonder if expanding the stoma can break it by inserting that sucker. Not knowing how long it is, but it can't feel good, I bet. Plus, you probably will always feel something in that area once it's inside you.

Can exercise hurt it?

It's a very good concept. Mechanically speaking, seems perfect...

Your small colon is definitely gonna be asking itself, "WTF is that coming at me?"

Will be interesting to hear the final word - results on it after trials. Good catch!

Good point, especially considering how some stoma "dance." Fully agree with you on the advancing and retraction of a stoma. Good catch.

Warrior, not that you can't stick anything at all in an ileostomy, no cath, we don't irritate anything. You will damage the small intestine, and then you're really up shit creek without a paddle. Plus, sometimes depending on what you eat, your stoma works a bit harder to push it out. That's also not accounted for, or a partial or full blockage. And going on like you said, how long to stay in? Infection rate? I always say unless these people have stomas, they need to stop making products for stomas. They don't truly know how they function and the ins and outs daily. They categorize every stoma as the same, but that is not reality at all.

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

I have a comment, but it's so, so wrong. 😁🤭

Actually, it looks like a pretty good idea. The tough part will be sizing it properly for the varying amounts of belly fat people have, and I don't know if it will work with visceral fat, which is on the wrong side for the flared seal to really do its thing. Also, not sure how you'd measure that via your stoma.

What the tip of your stoma is doing doesn't really matter, as long as the flared end stays put and is expanded larger than the opening for your stoma. So I don't think movement will be a problem. It almost has to be made of silicone to avoid any allergic reactions or infections and still be flexible enough to be collapsed and then expanded once inserted.

Would be curious why it has a limited lifespan though, unless it's just a hygiene issue. Inserting it into your stoma won't hurt it, and you won't even feel it. I've had bigger things in mine when I had to dilate due to a kink just upstream of the opening, and you don't feel anything until you stretch the hell out of your bowel. It's why you don't get that brutal pain when you obstruct until it gets really bad, as the bowel has passed the point of expansion that triggers your nerves to send pain signals. The seal is what I question, or should I say the design of the seal. Seals work by having the pressure of the working fluid equalize the force on the seal. In an ostomy, liquid could get between the flared end and your stoma before the fluid pressure actually reaches the sides of the sealing flange. So not sure how effective this would be for people that have output like a 'gusher' instead of a slow or normal flow rate. But it is interesting, and I'd volunteer to try it. Anything to get away from adhesives and skin irritation. And if folks don't have issues with those things, then stick with what works. But for the rest of us... it might just work! Where do I get mine?

;O)

I have watched the videos and read the comments so far on this StomTop device.
My initial reaction was to think that it is useful to have people who are still trying to develop new and alternative devices for use with our stomas. It would need a lot of testing and perhaps a bit of redesigning to be acceptable as a safe medical intervention and I feel that there will be contra-indications for quite a few people with stomas.

Having tried several different (yet similar) DIY approaches, I might take this opportunity to share some of my experiences.
In previous posts, I have expressed the view that stoma devices should be made ‘bespoke’ for every individual. This is because each time I experiment with something new (DIY), I find that it needs ‘tweaking’, sometimes several times, before it attains a suitable ‘fit’. Often, after much tweaking, some of these devices simply need to be discarded as being impractical in the ‘real’ world of stomas.
(1) Anyone who has successfully used stoma plugs, will know that they can work quite well for the majority of the time. However, there are occasions when the peristalsis is so powerful that it pushes the plug completely out of the stoma. Fortunately, there is/was a stuck-on wafer to help prevent a messy incident from occurring (if you can identify the problem in time to quickly do something about it. Interestingly, the stoma plugs have now been withdrawn from the market without any explanation. I suspect that ‘some’ people have had problems with them and made complaints(see also item (2) below).

(2) I have made several ‘devices’ to emulate stoma plugs yet allow for output (including gas)  to flow through them rather than have them blocked inside the stoma. 
Several unforeseen problems arose which may also become a problem for the StomTop device. The first and most significant was the fact that the walls of the (my) colon seem to have the characteristics of an octopus, in that they can reform/remold and block the entrance to these devices. They can also cling to the material, which makes it harder to withdraw the devices, with the potential for causing damage. If this happened with the StomTop device, then not only could it cause a ’blockage’, but it could make it very difficult to remove the device because the inserted end would be blocked open. (This was the reason that the anal plugs were not suitable for stomas!) Removing such devices is much more likely to cause a prolapsed stoma.

(3) Whilst the concept seems sound enough, there is still the possibility that some output may get around the ‘plug’ end of the device and seep along the outer side. If this happens, then (with this device) there is no failsafe method to stop that wayward output from leaking onto the skin and causing more problems than one might have had with a stick-on wafer. 

In conclusion, I would say that (from my own experiences) these types of devices are likely to be of very limited practical application for most people with stomas. However, they do have the potential to resolve issues for a few people who can tolerate the ‘intrusion’. However, they also have the potential to cause various forms of permanent ‘damage’.
I cannot think how such devices could/would be financially profitable for the manufacturers, but if they can work for a few people, then great! However, I hope that there will be sufficient ‘insurance’ to compensate those who fall foul of the unforeseen consequences of such experimentation.
 
Best wishes
Bill

I agree. Unless these makers actually have a stoma, they should STFU.  But you know, some people who do design these products have  a wide eye approach to building a better device. They just can't wear the damn thing. Live with it everyday. You are so right.

Will you mention it for a Scooby-Doo snack? 😃

I say live with it every day to know the ins and outs. Someone can't make and design something if they don't know the depth of the day-to-day, or if they don't understand how stomas work firsthand. Lol, maybe I feel extra strong about it because I have had 6 different stomas, and they all have done something different and have been in various spots. I can see what they are thinking when they design something, but the design doesn't add up to our reality or do what they think it should do. That's where hands-on knowledge is needed. 😁

I'm sorry. I just could not imagine having to stick that thing into my ileum. It seems fraught with danger brought on by my arthritic fingers. This looks like something I might trust to a medical professional. But, I don't have one of those at hand. Perhaps I am missing something here, but I am just not comfortable with sticking foreign objects into what remains of my intestines. This product looks like it could wind up with multiple lawsuits. Call me old and set in my ways. This just looks like a very bad idea. I hope they have good lawyers and lots and lots of money to pay out in damages. One should not underestimate the power of American ambulance chasers.

Daniel

Awwww, c'mon. It's gotta be funny.

Hi Bill,

Thanks for sharing, those were some great comments (as usual). I tend to agree with everything you said, but I think there's still a solution in this for some. I would tend to think this device would be aimed primarily at ileostomates rather than colostomates, but that wasn't clearly stated. For colostomates, I do see what you're saying about more solid output potentially causing issues.

Addressing your first concern about having each device tweaked to the individual is truly spot-on! The good news... or maybe it's REALLY good news... is in the near future that will be very possible. It hit me today when I was doing some research online that the device as shown, which is (I assume) rubber, plastic, and silicone... can very easily be 3D printed at home by anyone with a printer! So not only can you tweak the design any way you want, you can change things, rather than tweak. Rubbers, including silicone, can now be 3D printed, as long as they're not requiring vulcanization... and silicone does not. I would venture that in our lifetime we'll see patients pay for medical devices as they do now, but rather than have them made in China and shipped to us... they'll just download the 3D design to their printer and spit out all the supplies they paid for. That would eliminate the whole manufacturing, packaging, sanitizing, and shipping parts of the process, as well as any inherent liability since they'd have to sign their life away to receive the printing files. We're entering a strange new world, once again, and it should start getting interesting any day now!

;O)

My girlfriend said it's not appropriate. 😂

Hello Bob.
Thanks for your reply to my comments on this subject.
For my part, I am looking forward to the time when we can all have easy access to 3D printing. and let's hope that it becomes affordable for the masses.
Best wishes
bill

When I first saw this thing, I thought of a toilet plunger 🤔.

First impressions are the worst. 😲

Agree with Mountain Man - Daniel.

Would be very difficult self-installing, but you know, each of us finds that spirit to do what needs to be done. Like a warrior. A survivor.

Can you imagine? Sneezing or a hard cough, bam! It shoots right out of you.

Talk about a concealed weapon. 😉 🤔

...and this... my friend... has stopped you in the past? 😉 If so, she's a keeper.

I am just relieved it is only available to those with ileostomies — I don't have to weigh whether I should give it a try. 😨 The ileostomies can debug it and work out all the kinks before it is available to us colostomies. 😌

Lol Atraveler, I would never try it. That is a hospital trip and probably emergency surgery waiting to happen, along with horrible damage to the small intestine. We are never supposed to put anything in an ileostomy, so why in the world someone would come up with this is beyond crazy and, well, stupid.

If this does work, it would also stop your stoma from prolapsing or even retracting. I can see some good points with this, but I want to see long-term trials. Regards, IGGIE

Now how could a guy with a handle like "Warrior" be so afraid to stick something up his front-ass?  Just start with your pinkie, then your index finger.....middle finger......thumb........rolling pin handle.......T-ball bat.......you get the idea.  It's totally painless and very nice and smooth in there.  Once you conquer your fear you'll be much more willing to experiment.  I mean if Richard Gere can stick a gerbil up his ass.......you can certainly try a finger or three in yours.  Where's that 'warrior' spirit???

;O)

Yeah WARRIOR, time to finger yourself….so to speak. 😂  

I had to consult Chief Sitting Bull about this. He turned his nose up to the sky, asking the spirits, "What do I do with this warrior and his over-educated and curious

TONTO...?"

He looked me directly in the eye and said, "No good will come from fingers in stoma! Fingers in nose, yes. Fingers in mouth, yes. Finger in ear, yes.

Fingers or fist... well, let's not go there... finger or fingers in front butt? No, no, no."

He continued, the babbling wise man he is, saying, "You mess with the buffalo, you get the horns."

Uh huh... wrong movie. (Breakfast Club)

Bro, you have a very creative way of looking at things and being so articulate... I can actually visualize everything you suggest doing. THIS SCARES ME MORE than anything... you have way too much time on your hands, buddy.

And you still live alone? 😱

No Scooby-Doo snack for you.

Good points

I've heard that some doctors do stick things in there for certain things. Can't remember why, but you can stick things like that in there. Kind of scary though. I'd be running to the stoma nurse to have her do it. Lol

Yes, I've thought about could it somehow leak. Like our stomas are wet and could it leak through the area that we are inserting. I guess that is why it's not on the market yet. They have to test it. Very interesting, I thought though. I can't wait to see the outcome of the testing.

Good point! The sneezing and coughing.

I have actually been there. On my 4th stoma, I had the doctor catheterize it and sent me home to catheterize it, which never should have happened. There's a crazy story behind that one. Not supposed to catheterize an ileostomy! The only thing they should be sticking in there is when you have stenosis to widen and open it up if there is a narrowing. I don't know if in some cases they have to use a camera, but weird stuff like this product, like I said, to each their own, but it doesn't make sense, and stuff shouldn't be shoved in there.