Basics Of Ostomy Care

The best sources of information about how to take care of your ostomy are your surgeon and ostomy care nurse. Additionally, many local and regional ostomy associations are also there to provide you all the support that you need to ensure effective ostomy care. It is, however, crucial to do your part at home.

This article aims at providing primary information about the ostomy care regimen that you need to be committed to.

The appliance

The ostomy appliance consists of the faceplate and the bag or pouch. Here are some tips regarding the ostomy appliance.

• Before and after changing or emptying the ostomy pouch, wash your hands.
• Change the entire appliance twice a week or every three to four days.
• Make sure that you are not letting the bag to overfill. Empty it when it is one-third to half full.
• If your stoma passes a large amount of gas into the bag, consider using an appliance with a gas filter.
• If you use cut-to-fit ostomy appliances, make sure that you have cut multiple ostomy bags ahead of time to avoid having to use scissors at the time when you need to change the bag.
• Keep your appliances in a cool and dry place.

The skin

• When changing ostomy appliance, check the skin around the stoma for sores, open areas, and redness. Notify your ostomy care nurse if you feel itching or pain.
• Use water and mild soap to cleanse the skin. Soaps with perfumes or moisturizers can be too harsh for the likes of peristomal skin.
• Unless your ostomy care nurse recommends you, you should avoid using lotions, baby wipes, powders, alcohol, or steroid ointments.

Daily activities

• Ostomy pouches produced these days have strong adhesives on faceplates. Once they adhere to the skin, they form a leak-proof seal. It means that you can shower or bathe with your ostomy appliance on.
• During summer days, heat and sweating may reduce the wear time of an ostomy pouch. Hence, you might have to change the pouch more frequently.
• After emptying the pouch, you do not need to rinse it with water. Instead, you can use a lubricating deodorant to make the ostomy pouch ready to use again.

Apart from taking care of the ostomy pouch and the peristomal skin, you need to make sure that your lifestyle makes it easy for you to manage your ostomy. For instance, your diet and daily activity routine should help you to have timely bowel movements.