Managing Skin Irritation Around My Stoma

hi everyone, it has been a while since I posted in here. 

Just to recap, I had a panproctocolectomy in September due to  colitis and low grade dysplasia cells found in my rectum. However, my colitis has been in remission for 6 years and I just needed the surgery for precaution. I will be having my reversal (j pouch) in may. 

I have a continuous problem of the skin around my stoma being red and sore, I saw my stoma nurse and she put it down to being allergic to the Brava mouldable rings I was using. We changed them to the Adapt rings and my skin started to get better after a week, however I quite regularly leak and output seeps under the bag, my skin then gets really irritated again. It's a vicious circle, just as I get my skin to start healing, I leak and I'm back to square one. 

Any ideas how I can prevent leaks so often or help the skin heal? I have tried the powder and the cream and none make a difference. My output is normal too. Many thanks xx

Hello Katerina.

Have you tried a 'stoma-collar' called 'Dermacol' made by Salts healthcare, based in Birmingham UK. www.salts.co.uk

A brilliantly designed device that is a soft rubberised collar, moulded and attached to a ring a bit like the adapt ones.

Although I do not use it for this purpose, I found that it guides the output away from the surrounding skin, which is what seems to be the problemn in your case.

A Salts rep. gave me me samples at a meeting I went to so I presume that the company would send you one or two to try if you contacted them.

MIne are 35mm which fortunately fit precisely around my stoma but I am presuming they do them in different sizes so it might be worth knowing your size before you contact them.

I hope this works for you

Best wishes

BIll

Many thanks Bill. You are right about the adapt rings, I do find these are what's causing the problem but my nurse wanted me to wear them so I haven't tried without a ring. I look in to what you suggested. Thank you x

Katerina, as long as I used paste I had sore skin, as long as I used rings I had leaks. I now use barrier strips, cut them to length, form them to a circle exactly the size of my stoma, and I don't have leaks or sore skin. I also use no sting skin barrier and stoma powder. I'll be glad to describe the process if you want me to.