heiders33 wrote:I changed my bag today and noticed that the major irritation was gone. There was still redness around the stoma, but no broken skin. I did notice a tiny "welt" on the top right side above the stoma that didn't have any sensitivity, so it almost seemed like it was part of the stoma, not an irritation. Has anyone else experienced this? It was weird but for some reason didn't worry me.
I didn't eat past 6:00 last night, and it was SO much easier to change the bag this time! There was only minimal bleeding, which means that clearly my constant cleaning the last time was causing the bleeding. I tried the method of molding the ring around the stoma first and then placing on the wafer. I did use a little paste to fill in divets, but made sure none of it got under the ring. We will see how this goes.
Also, it's clear that the convex appliance work much better for my skin. I tried a Coloplast bag once but the sticker didn't adhere to my skin well at all. Hollister has actually done a much better job with the sticker adhering to my skin. I am going to look into different types of barrier rings just to try them out.
Trial and error is the best way to find what works best for you. The nice thing about the barrier rings is that you can cut them and mold them to fit your needs. I also use Brava elastic barrier strips to help secure my pouch. My ostomy nurse has me put them under the adhesive around the wafer. I was having issues with the adhesive causing an allergic reaction, making the adhesive come off my skin due to the weeping redness. The Brava strips have eliminated that problem.