Need Advice for Concave Stoma - Skin Problems Looming

G'day fellow Stomates.

I have a 90-day-old stoma which looks like it will permanently be a concave hole. I fear this is going to cause skin problems in the surrounding area without the correct bag base plate. I am currently using bags by H*****ter which are designed for a raised stoma.

The only manufacturer I can discover in Australia seems to be C*****ast that may cater for my variation. Even then, I am not sure which product I should select. It seems as though my local WA Ostomy Association only stocks H*****ter.

Any advice that my readers and fellow stomates may be able to offer will be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Mac

Hi Mac!

I'm the one you want to talk to about THAT!

Both of those companies offer convex styles of colostomy bags, but they only helped me out a little bit.

My stoma had hardly any tissue projecting at all, and due to a 100 lb weight loss and 2 c-sections when I was 30, I have folds of skin which set my stoma back at least a half inch.

It caused my body to constantly try to heal my stoma, and even after a revision, it would shrink down to 6 centimeters. Then I would tear if I had a firm movement.

They were trying to make my innie an outie, I'm told, when I was in the hospital before I regained consciousness. I'm told, but in the long run, Igor my reversal in 10 months because of it.

They also sell barrier rings to help. One kind I tried was oval and thick and reminded me of a pair of lips. There was nothing I could insert along the edges that the poo didn't push outward and leave my skin exposed. That particular ring actually folded together and sealed off my bag opening when I sat up from the heat of my body.

The first best thing was an ostomy belt that held the bag against my body. Then I used barrier rings to tear in pieces to fill the gaps from the folds to make a flat surface to attach the bag.

My nurse wanted me to cut the hole as small as my stoma, but that left too much room so I cut it larger.

I tried some 4x4 adhesive square that I cut the hole out of, but that didn't help.

What I tried to do was keep my stool consistent enough to try to direct it into the bag, but I was constantly handling the bag and checking.

So...it was terrible! I often changed bags 3x a day, my skin was always raw and bleeding. I often got pancake stools behind the barrier filling up the gaps.

I just worked to protect my skin. I used a spray adhesive remover to cut down on tearing, and I used the crusting method to make a barrier from poop.

I'm sorry to be so negative, and I hope you have better luck. If I had to do it over, I would learn more about irrigation. It was impossible to keep my stool constant, and after it had pounded against the bag, I was impacted enough to take measures for relief.

Yes, I had a tough time, but I knew it had saved my life. I would still be managing because you do what you have to. I still don't leave the house much and have limited activities, but I do my bitching here and try to smile when I can.

Poor, poor pitiful me! NOT!

Charlotte

G'day Charlotte,

Many thanks for your detailed reply. OK ... I am on a mission to make our problem a little smaller (no pun intended) even if I cannot make it go away. I am visualizing something like the shape of an ice cream cone, with the top and bottom cut off, which could be gently inserted into the stoma through the hole in the base plate prior to attaching the bag.

Obviously, I cannot manufacture but I am going to try and make a prototype, if one does not already exist. I will certainly keep stomates in touch with developments.

I was hospitalized about eight months ago with edema. I discovered a most inappropriate bar of "guests" soap in the shower room. That has led me to formulating a new range of skin products which is just starting to become very popular among the more senior people in our city. Maybe I can get lucky again.

Again many thanks for your response. I will stay in touch.

Cheers,

Mac

Mac,

I'm glad I got you thinking in a positive light rather than making you feel hopeless. I may have been too brutally honest for a timid "newbie."

I often wondered if the device, and funnel seems like the appropriate word, were made out of a different medium would work for me. Something that retained its shape but wouldn't poke.

By the way, I posted pictures of my stoma when I first joined, but it looks nothing like other mates. I may be the single recipient of such a troublesome body part. I'm glad I didn't name it because that would have led to some horrific name-calling and bullying sessions on my part.

Good luck, Charlotte

P.S. Please keep me up to date on your progress because there's no guarantee that I'm cured for life, though I hope and pray.

I have basically created a funnel around the stoma. I am fluffy (ok not skinny). I also have skin problems. I wear: a convex wafer. Then I get a flat wafer and cut it into 4 circles. I cut holes in the circles the size of my stoma. I put 2 of those on the wafer, and save the other 2 for the next wear. Then, I put an adapt convex barrier ring on top of that, and that is what is next to my skin. It works better than anything else. Because of the skin problems, and well belts are uncomfortable. So, I wear 2 pairs of underwear. The bottom pair has to be tight enough to act as a belt. I put it on and cut a hole in it, just smaller than the seal. Then I take it off and reinforce that hole with seam binding lace. The second pair of underwear keeps the bag from pulling itself off, even if I've been eating a lot. Hy tape helps too (if you're not allergic to it)

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Many thanks, Jen. I will certainly try your suggestions as it sounds like a really good adaptation of available products. I will let you know how I get on.

Please do! Jen

Wow, you are quite inventive! I was trying to make the funnel, but if I had succeeded, it would have been the glue sticking well that made it work, and probably would have been worse than the irritation.

I don't see how long you've had your ostomy, but I don't think I could have come up with anything like that ever.

So it was good the docs decided to reverse me at ten months when I was asking for more help with the appliances.

Charlotte

I've had my ostomy since 1992, and was diagnosed with Crohn's in 1973. It was an ostomy nurse that came up with the extra layers. An assistant of another ostomy nurse told me about his mother in Texas who has an ostomy, and came up with the double underwear thing.