Flange/Barrier Cleaning Tips

I have had my colostomy for about 7 months now. There is no stoma nurse available in my area and I try to find answers to questions by online research. That doesn't always work well and can be very time-consuming. My question is this: How do you keep your flange/barrier clean in between changes? I have terrible issues with pancaking and that tends to leave this very soiled. Even though I can get several days wear out of a bag, as I rinse it often, the flange is very difficult to keep from being very soiled after just a day or two. This causes me stress over odors, leaking, etc. With the constant pancaking, even the area directly under my flange traps the output. Thanks for any suggestions.

Hello TTC,

I have issues with the same before I started irrigating and believe me, none of the smell good stuff helps much. I have kept a bottle of water in the toilet room so when I emptied the pouch, I would pour the water in from the bottom of the pouch and lift it so the water rinses around the stoma and barrier. You can swish it around and help with your hand on the outside of the pouch to cleanse the area. I used the bottle in three portions and it usually cleaned it all up! Of course, if you are using a two-piece, you can pop the pouch off to finish up with some soft tissue. Since you have a colostomy, have you considered trying to irrigate? It solves all your problems and takes about an hour every day but you have no other output to have to deal with! If you are interested, everyone here can help you. I would be glad to help! Ostomy nurses are of little help anyway. I never found any value in mine beyond the first time I saw her and she taught me how to change the pouch, of course it was easy, nonpoo in there to begin with! YouTube has some great videos and that is how I learned! I watched them several times, ordered what I needed, and it gave me my life back. No leaks, no smells, and you only have to wear a little cap instead of a big pouch! Checked all my boxes of advantages! Lol Otherwise you may want to eat foods that typically give you diarrhea so your output will be more liquid. Some can drink prune juice or eat something fibrous and that helps!

Good luck, hope this helps!

Pupoyluv

Dear Trying to Cope,

I agree with what Puppyluv said. You definitely sound like a good candidate for irrigation. I had the same problems with pancaking before I discovered irrigation. The flange kept detaching in places and stool would get under it. Never really found anything that kept it from doing that. There are barrier rings you can use that sometimes help with that, as you don't want any stool on the skin. With me, they tended to detach too, however. Please do check out irrigation. There are a lot of videos, etc. online. I think that would be the answer to your problem. It sure helped me!

Linda

Try barrier rings.

The problem is diet. Find a selection of nice foods that keep output just liquid enough to keep moving on. You should know what that means! LOL.

I never thought I would care so much about shit!

Life will have its little jokes...... The biggest gain that I found was only one cup of coffee per day..... usually first thing. Occasional glass of prune or apple juice. All juices are a good part of my mix. 5-6 pints a day... most enjoyable, I have grown to love it! Porridge oats with loads of mixed fruit and walnuts, milk and sugar to taste. Damn, I'm hungry now..... good luck finding your perfect diet, it gets easy then! xx

Words of Encouragement from Ostomy Advocates I Hollister

And of course, about 25g of macrogol of some type or other, each day... in juice... of course!

Too funny Pirrip!

But true. Diet makes or breaks you and now I am hungry too! Oats are sounding great right now! Lol

Puppyluv

I belong to a support group led by the ET RN's at a local hospital. Pancaking was also an issue with me at first. Then one suggested I use a stool softener once or twice a day. They told me to go to Walmart and purchase it there for $4.00. I bought the Walmart brand and take one every morning. I also use water to clean my bag at every empty. It works like a charm. If it's too thick, it will pancake and can cause leaks. I have been going 5 to 7 days between changes. I use Hollister bags. I like the quality of how they are made. I have tried others and I don't want to take the time to irrigate, lol. Diet is also a factor in keeping your stool solid or semi. I was told to keep it the consistency of pudding.

I was having the same problem and someone on here suggested putting a few drops of oil in the bag. Also, blow a bit of air in the pouch. Then just massage it around in the pouch. It has helped me. Hope it will help you. You can use baby oil.