Trying Eakin barrier rings - no stretching needed! Comparison with Hollister.

I haven't received the Eakin stoma wraps yet to try, but I got the large Eakin barrier rings to try.

Here's a picture to compare sizes of the large Eakin barrier ring and my normal Hollister one. So, I used my stoma measurer paper and cut a barrier ring from the large Eakin one so it would fit around my stoma (44mm) without stretching it. I just put it on, so time will tell how well it works, but it was very nice to not have to stretch the barrier ring a bunch to apply it to my bag. I just laid it on and pressed it down, no stretching. We'll see how it works. &zwj

Hi Alex, did you use the Full Eakin Seal or did you (as it seems) cut a small ring to replicate your smaller original? I use the big Eakin and where the hole is, I kind of fold the edge of the hole so it dips inward, the edge of the hole dips down into the dip around the stoma, making a tighter seal. The Hollister Bag (26830) has a hard plastic backing which stops the ring creasing, makes a huge difference.

The large Eakin works great for me.

I cut a smaller ring from the large ring. About the same width as the Hollister ring but with a bigger hole so it would fit my stoma without stretching it to fit. I'm gonna try how you described on my next bag change. I always get a little output under my Hollister ring by the time I change my bag. I started on Eakin seals and never had an issue but I wasn't doing anything physical when I tried them. Now that I'm back to work and moving a bunch, I'm trying to fix that little bit of output I get.

I put the large Eakin on my skin first and squeeze the edges down around the stoma, to get it down around the edges. Then I carefully put the bag/wafer on top. I was swimming in the Atlantic today and as usual it held up great. It was exposed to the hot sun (about 75, was expecting 80s) and no problems. Wore my Speedos and got a great tan!!

Wtg mister, you did awesome. Hope it turns out ok.... I agree, mine is small but when I stretch it, it thins out.... Excited to hear results.

Alex T, how's the experiment thus far?

Alex T, how's the experiment thus far?

Alex T, how's the experiment thus far?

So far, so good. I'll change my bag Thursday and see if I have any output under the ring.

Ordered some Hollister samples. Will see what they send... May have questions. Keep us posted on the test...

Tracy

Just changed my bag. The Eakin seal worked well, no output under my ring. The residue was much more difficult to get off my skin than the Hollister ring though. I have to put a Hollister ring on today because I didn't have time to cut another sample one, but stay tuned for part two of my experiment.

Hi Alex,

I ordered a box of these rings to try myself, but they won't be here for a couple more days. The residue being tough to get off might be a deal breaker for me, but I'll try one and see. I read in another post on this subject that the user didn't like them because the ring got soft and mushy. Reading the ad for these, it says that's what they're supposed to do. So did the consistency of your ring change much in the time you had it on? I change every other day, but my output can be very liquidy... so it's a concern for me. I can also only change my barrier first thing in the morning when things are calm, so having an issue during the day or early evening means I have to sleep with it that way and deal with it in the morning... which is why I only experiment with products that have a high probability of success. So let me know what your ring was like when you removed it. Close to what it started out as... or a mushy mess.

Thanks,

Bob

It was much mushier than what I was used to but still solid. If you zoom in to the top of my stoma in the picture, you can see the residue left over that I had to scrub off.

If you change every other day, I can't believe your ring would get that mushy but I don't have very liquidy output either to compare it to. Maybe it was just that I was so used to the Hollister rings coming off with hardly any residue that a little sticky residue was just different than my normal. &zwj

I have found that the nubs on a washcloth with some Dial soap (no residue) work great for getting bits of adhesive and Eakin ring material off. The Eakin rings are very malleable and can be worked and softened. I used to have more trouble with bits of ring left when I was using a whole ring. Now I break it in half, mold it into a circle and either put it on my Hollister wafer or around my stoma. I save the other half of the ring in its packing in a ziplock plastic bag and use it for my next change after molding it and softening it up and working it into a ring. I thought that this seemed crazy when my ostomy nurse suggested it, but it is going to get warm from your skin and that is part of how it works - by being able to soften up and change shape to seal things up.

The Eakin does get mushy for me and is a bit of a project to remove but it seals very well. Haven't tried any others so I'll order some Hollister next time.

Alex,

I have been using those rings since I've had mine done 3 months ago. I just stretch them a little and haven't had any leakage issues except for my one mistake I made and pancaked it.... Needless to say, nothing would have helped. I learned all about that one. I have been back to work for a month now. I'm an auto technician so it's a physical job, no leaks yet. I also use a Hollister 2-piece bag set and wear a Stealth Belt... it should work for you.