Stoma skin challenges
Stoma skin: what are the challenges?
If you suffer from stoma skin issues, you’re not alone. One of the most common reasons for stoma skin issues is leakage.
Leakage can lead to skin issues
Ostomates commonly experience leakage of stoma output which runs under the base of your stoma appliance, touching your skin. Leakage is such a concern as it can cause peristomal skin complications. These complications can lead to infection, disease and severe irritation to the peristomal skin area.
How can you manage this?
The first thing to mention is that your stoma care nurse can offer you helpful advice and tips. Some other things you could consider include:
- Make sure your pouch fit is secure and snug around your stoma to prevent any leakages that could make your skin sore.
- As there may be some skin damage when removing the pouch, be as gentle as possible and consider using a medical adhesive remover.
- Pancaking (when the plastic films that make up a pouch stick together and prevent waste from entering the pouch), can cause leakage and sore skin. A product such as deogel® can help prevent pouch layers sticking together to avoid the problem of pancaking. clearway® also helps keep the plastic films that form your pouch apart.
- As bodyweight can change over time, it’s important to occasionally re-check your weight as this may affect how your pouch sits around your stoma.
- Your stoma shape and size can also change over time. Remeasure your stoma using the measuring guide that came with your pouch and alter the cut if needed.
- It’s important to change your stoma pouch but try not to do this too often as this might irritate the skin.