This topic is about dealing with decreased wear time and odor issues with urostomy pouches. A person who has had a urostomy since 2007 noticed that they used to be able to wear their wafer and pouch for 7 days without any issues. However, recently, they have been experiencing a strong urine odor after just 3 days, which forces them to change the wafer and pouch more frequently. They are curious about why this change might be happening and how long other people with urostomies typically keep their systems on.

Here are some helpful insights and advice shared by others:

1. Normal wear time can vary. Some people need to change their systems every 2–3 days to prevent odor, wafer erosion, or leakage, while others can still manage 5–7 days.

2. Wafer deterioration and odor can increase when urine pools at the stoma. To prevent this, keep the night-drainage bag connected whenever lying down so that urine flows away instead of sitting against the wafer.

3. For cleaning night bags, after each use, rinse them and then half-fill with water and a small amount of white vinegar. Let it sit until the next night to help reduce odor buildup.

4. Hydration and diet can affect urine smell. Pay attention to what you drink and adjust your fluid intake to dilute urine and lessen odor.

5. A sudden change in odor could indicate a urinary tract infection (UTI). This might be due to a high bacterial count, so consider asking a physician for a urine culture. If positive, antibiotic treatment might be necessary.

6. The choice of products can influence wear time. For example, one person with a flush stoma reports being able to wear their system for 5–7 days using Coloplast SenSura Mio Click Deep Barrier without additional barrier rings. They prefer removing the pouch and barrier to shower, as they found barrier rings messy and prone to covering a flush stoma.