Concerns about Parastomal Hernia with Ileostomy: Is it dangerous?

Hi everybody. I'm very sure that I have a peristomal hernia. Is it dangerous with an ileostomy?

Hi Baw,

I have never had a hernia but understand they can be very painful, but doctors are not usually in a hurry to repair them. They wait as long as they can. Some of the Iliostomy pros will chime in and let you know what they know!
Puppy

Thank you, Puppy.

For 6 years, I lived with a large hernia around my right-side ileostomy. Abscesses developed on the hernia and around the stoma, while my doctors just "watched it." For several years, the abscesses had to be lanced in the emergency department. Twice per day, my wife packed the abscesses with moist gauze. In Nov. 2019, during a 12-hour surgery, I underwent my 5th revision. The stoma is now "up high" on the left side. I now have a very nice "tummy tuck." Post-surgery, I began experiencing 3 leaks per day, because, as my body healed from the surgery, my stoma ended up on a skin fold. I have switched from a flat flange to a convex flange. Problem solved.

According to NIH:

It is believed that due to the continually unsatisfactory success rate of corrective surgery, indications for surgical treatment of parastomal hernia are limited mainly to cases with severe symptoms and complications, occurring in roughly 30% of all hernia patients. In this context, the main indications and contraindications for surgery are as follows.

Absolute indications:

– Incarceration,

– Strangulation,

– Obstruction,

– Parastomal fistula,

– Perforation,

– Stomal ischemia.

Relative indications:

– History of incarceration,

– Recurrent temporary symptoms of obstruction,

– Difficulty in maintaining the collection device,

– Inability to visually control and treat the stoma,

– Problems with irrigation,

– Hernia-related pain,

– Erosion of the surrounding skin,

– Inability to accept the stoma aesthetically,

– Narrow hernia gate resulting in difficulty in its reduction,

– Other concomitant complications with indication for intervention, e.g. stenosis or prolapse.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5890847/

Hi Mark

Wow! You did your research... thank you for sharing this valuable information as I'm sure it will help a lot of people on this site.

Ange

Mark, thank you very much for the educated content of your message. It will take me a while to look up stuff to understand it. The one thing that fascinated me the most was INCARCERATION. Let me assure you that I have never been arrested or have spent a night in jail! Glad I have the internet to look up help.

Thanks again,

BAW

BAW

I've got a peristomal hernia that is slowly growing. I use a hernia belt (two actually) which seems to slow it down but it's not stopping it. Doc says it's not the type of hernia that will cause problems like strangulation etc. Also, it's not painful. Just scary to see get a little worse each week.

Thank you Blazest. That certainly takes the worry out of things. The darn thing getting increasingly large isn't a pleasant thought though. Did the Doc say he would do surgery at some point?

BAW

I just had parastomal hernia repair done on Friday. I have a permanent colostomy. I irrigate and have for over 12 years. My surgeon did a "little surgery" he said - stitching the stomach muscle in hopes that it would solve it. He didn't want to do the "big surgery" (mesh) unless he has to. I upfront told him that it was affecting my irrigations and that for the first time since my ostomy was given to me that I felt lost again. Thankfully he has been my surgeon through all of this - since 2005. I do feel though that I know why it occurred to me so long without a hernia - I have a new grandson who is now 18 months old and he is really the only change in my life....lifting that big boy for over a year has been the cause of the hernia I feel. So Grammy will no longer be carrying that boy around ;)