Hollister's Latest Closure Design Fails Again

Hollister re-designed their tail closure AGAIN. These people just can't seem to leave well enough alone or get it right. The latest one is the same 'lock and roll' closure with an added piece of stiff plastic, so that there is a stiff plastic strip on both sides of the closure.

This added piece of plastic strip soaks up output like a sponge, and the velcro-type piece is so close to the tail end that both the velcro-type piece and the added plastic strip get output on them when emptying, which is impossible to tissue off. This is absolutely useless, since it takes quite a bit of washing to get the output out of the two pieces.

Hollister keeps changing the closure and it never gets better, just a new kind of bad or a new kind of 'doesn't work.' The design team seems to be clueless and obviously doesn't test drive them with real content. This latest one with the added plastic strip and the adjacent velcro-type strip that both 'catch' and soak up poo, is the worst yet in my experience.

I cannot stand the Velcro due to that cr@p. I love the clip, and if it makes you feel insecure, then
double clip. When I used to work in the factories or do something physical, I would double clip and have no problems at all. Many complaints about that new product.

Love the new Velcro
🔒 Login to see image

I read the opening comments with amazement. Your description sounds like what I've had since my colostomy 4 weeks ago, but I've just not had those problems. You didn't mention what type of maintenance you do for emptying, and maybe we are even emptying differently.

Today for the first time I took the bag off and opened the other end, spraying a saline solution from the top to flush some troublesome stuff. That one time resulted in some of the internal stuff washing back just a little to the outside, but I'll chalk that up to carelessness on my side.

Velcro contamination? In my first week, when cleaning with toilet paper, a few fragments caught on the Velcro, making it less efficient, but still not enough to cause leaks. My Stoma Mgt nurse showed me how to clean the inside of the flaps and to massage backwards what was difficult to reach.

Possibly our consistencies are entirely different, and yours has made the task of cleanup much more difficult. I'll say I've taken up to an hour to try to get things right during times when my stretch-to-fit required extra cleanup after wafer replacement, but after 4 weeks, so far there've been no completely through leakages. (Now that I've said it, who knows what will happen next. Hah!).

From what I've read here, a number of people have had problems with Hollister. Hopefully, you can get access to a brand and model that will work better for you. Keep looking around for tips that touch on the problems you've had. Don't give up. Take charge of that sucker, and don't let it get you down.

Very best wishes.

Hi. I can understand your frustration with Hollister. About 2 years ago I was having a lot of problems with their product. Contacting Customer Service did not do me any good. They kept referring me to their ostomy nurse but to no avail...why? because she was on holidays for 2 weeks and no one told me. So I got fed up with waiting. In the end I changed companies. I went with Convatec...wonderful people and their CSReps are great. It might be worth it to look into changing companies. By the way, their clip is like the old (first) Hollister clip and I've never had problems with it. Hope this helps. Josie's mom.

My Ostomy Journey: Jearlean | Hollister

Have you tried the Coloplast products? I really like the system, except that sometimes the skin barrier irritates my skin. They all irritate my skin. So, I use a powder before I put it on and change every two days. The pouch is opaque and sticks on rather than clips on. The closure is a double Velcro and lays pretty flat. I like it a lot.

For those who have suggested other manufacturer's products, I think those are good ideas, and I should be trying them soon, but I also don't want to confuse my necessary learning curve with not having a handle on on good maintenance habits, and progress has been getting better.

Interesting on the Hollister moldable /shape-to-fit/ topic, per their help contact, when I described the problem of the pulled shape retreating towards its original shape after stretching ... Given the stretchable part consists of several well defined rings, its okay to cut out a ring (or so), if needed to more closely match the size one is trying to accommodate. For me, this is important, because my stoma size leaves lots of space within the 77mm flange, but is large enough to be near the upper limit of next smaller flange.  So the stretched-to size is near the maximum the smaller flange is designed for (not at the edge, but with some slack).

In the meantime, for myself, I've discovered that more frequent emptying w/ cleanup allows simpler maintenance each time. I've also discovered several helps for the pancaking problems.  #1, Q-tip nudges through the flange at each emptying; #2, just use water for any bag cleansing/hydration (I had been using a highly diluted solution of dish soap; #3 ensure a small amount of air inside the bag, to provide a bit of clearance between the stoma and the edge of the bag.  Hints #2 and #3 seem to reduce the tendency of output adhesion to the bag, and #1 tends to earlier nip the problem in the bud, reducing the stress on the barrier.  There's been less need for #1 as I've made improvements in other areas [ or that seems to be the case this past half-week ]
🔒 Login to see image
.

I've wondered about others. What I do with my bags is change the bag, putting on a new or clean bag. I put the full bag in a long Tupperware container, large enough to hold the bag lying flat. Then, I wash out all used or full bags once a day. With the bag off, you don't need to unroll or unclamp the small end. Just fill it full of water, then dump the contents into the toilet. Redo this until the bag is clean to your satisfaction. I reuse each bag five to seven times, which helps keep my supply costs down.
🔒 Login to see image

Hi, my son, who is 9, has a bit of trouble with the Velcro sticking to thermals, but we also help him, and being so active, first we cleaned it with a wet wipe, and it got the poo off the end of the bag. You can also clean the outer side with it; that gets thrown in the rubbish. Then we sometimes roll the bag up to a bit smaller, ending by rolling it up as much as possible, and then use 1 cm of paper tape on the bottom of the bag or fold the bag up and tape it to the plastic piece of the bag, not the brown cover. The bag will undo if the Velcro is exposed to materials like some wool, Merino, fluffy materials. Yes, we have had our share of leakage!!
🔒 Login to see image
But just remember, there are more people than we know having this problem too. Yah, a mum has found someone to tell!! So happy
🔒 Login to see image

Thanks for sharing your comment.

Yes, I opened my first batch of these new ones a couple of days ago, and why Hollister had to change them is beyond me.  After "unloading," it is really hard to open the tail-piece to clean it out. I can't begin to imagine how hard it must be for people with arthritis.  I thought I was just getting used to the last change Hollister made, and now this piece of crap!  I have ordered a couple of free samples from Coloplast and Convatec and will give them a go, which is a nuisance really. You never know how one's skin is going to react to a new product (the base-plate from Hollister being fine with me).