What do you think is better: 1 or 2-piece bags?

I am still learning about this stuff since I am still awaiting my surgery- but, in order to swap back and forth between regular bags and disposable closed end bags one has to use a two piece system- correct?. That makes the 2 piece sound very appealing to me as I can see disposable bags being very useful for things like hiking, some sports and ither activities where it is more convenient to swap a bag and throw the old one in a ziploc for disposal later, like blue heron does- and then swap back to a regular bag later in the day.

I had a 2-piece only while I was in the hospital. I prefered the one-piece, because itmeant that I could take it off and not have anything else on my body and get in the shower that way. With a two-piece, you keep the wafer on for days.
My insurance was paying for one one-piece per day, plus extras because they realize that there are days in the beginning when you could need more than one.

I've used one and two piece...both for extended periods of time. The one piece was a special system I needed for skin problems. I found myself going back to two piece. They are easier to put on (flange first, then bag). The two disadvantages are probably 1) the slightly extra expense and 2) you really need to make sure that bag is connected!

I do wear a 1inch thick belt almost constantly to make sure the bag stays attached to the flange.

ddd -I used a one pice for 12 months and changed it every day. The stoma nurses told me the one-piece bags were only meant for one day usage. I know that other people in the States had different experience with that. And I never got skin irritations from changing every day. I did enjoy being able to be wafer-free every day, if only for 10 minutes.

I don't know why but I've read that even though they are the same adhesive, materials, everything, etc manufacturers have to say they recommend only one day wear time on 1-piece appliances. I've also read that in Europe ostomates are more likely to use one pieces and to change more frequently, maybe it's a cultural thing or that is the prevailing philosophy among WOCNs over there, I do not know :)

Personally I have never used a one piece. I like to wear an opaque bag so I usually unsnap the top to look at my stoma and make sure it's OK once a day :) I also frequently burp my bag to keep it really smooth and flush against my body. I never had any ballooning of the pouch at first but since I've added a lot more fruits and veggies to my diet I do tend to get a bit of a 'blimp' while I'm sleeping, and I like being able to sit up and carefully burp from the top rather than have to go to the bathroom just to empty gas.

I do have a few one pieces that my WOCN gave me as samples to try but I am so happy with my system (very comfortable and secure, easily get 4+ days of wear, never any leaks even with exercise and showering and rolling around etc) that I don't want to try anything new. I admit I would like to have a slimmer profile but that doesn't outweigh the benefits of the two piece. If anyone's curious, I wear the Hollister cut to fit two piece with an opaque pouch and Hollister Adapt ring. I find the Hollister 'click' connection or whatever they call it REALLY secure and have never had an issue with it opening unexpectedly.

bostwis, do you mean you take the pouch off and shower with just the wafer on? You don't find it breaks down the adhesive more quickly?

I use the Hollister two piece system. I really like it because I get 6 to 7 days of wear time per wafer. I couldn't imagine changing the appliance every day. The other nice thing is my insurance covers a bag a day so I use a new bag every morning after I shower.

Pluot, I shower with just the appliance and have no issues with wear time. It actually cleans the stoma area really well and helps to reduce pancaking.

My stoma nurse gave me a few one piece samples but never showed me how to put them on so I just stuck with the 2 piece system.

Post Edited (Mossmi33) : 4/3/2013 3:35:07 PM (GMT-6)

Thanks for the replies, folks :p Read them all but will probably read them again tomorrow when I'm a bit less braindead: been quite a long day <_<.

I wonder if the 2-piece system is more common in the states? My stoma nurse recommended I change the bag every day, but in possible act of gender stereotyping, she reckoned that women tended to change the bag every day, whereas men were more likely to leave it as long as possible. In that case, I'm more like a man than a woman >_>. I'm lazy, so I change the bag once every 3 days. I would leave it even longer, but anything much longer would be pushing it, plus the bag does start to get a bit manky after 2-3 days.

Anyway, I want to try a 2-piece even more now, so I will ask my stoma nurse about it tomorrow when I see her. Hopefully I can try a few brands.

@Ridgeruner - I've never heard of Salts! Just googled them and found their website (salts.co.uk). They do send out samples, so I think I will order some.

@Equestrian Mom - Can you not ship Dansac products? I could send you a couple of bags, I guess... <_<. Although it's probably a tad pointless unless you can get a regular supply of them.

My stoma nurse discouraged me from the two piece system, saying it was more common in the USA, due to the medical insurance system and people having to wear them longer. If that's c**p I apologise to our friends over the pond!
NiceCupOfTea; my stoma nurse encouraged me to at least go every other day before changing. Not sure if that was for my benefit or in deference to the cost to our NHS!
I was using Salts bags directly after surgery, but they gave me Pelican when I had to start using convex. Other than the Salts not being the right type for me they seemed like good quality, user friendly bags.

Sure seals... They look like a US thing only; does any UK person know if there's a British equivalent?

@Silent Lucidity - Ah okay. I'll be interested to see what my stoma nurse says tomorrow. I've still got a few Pelican bags left. I rather liked them; think I preferred them to the Coloplast ones.

One thing I do like the sound of is having two different sized bags: smaller one for the day, larger one at night. On this note, I'm gonna be off >_>. Night folks :p

Edit: cheers, uc_free.

I like the two piece and use Convatec Sur-fit Natura Durahesive cut-to-fit wafers because they adhere to me better than any of the other major brands. I used a one-piece for the first 4 months post-op as I had abdominal incision complications and my nurse did not want me to push on my belly at all to snap a two-piece together. The one piece was okay, but I had a hard time getting it placed straight on my abdomen. I have an oval ameoba-shaped stoma so if didn't cut the hole in the one piece in exactly the configuration, the whole pouch would end up hanging crooked. Or I would have trouble seeing through the plastic well enough to get it placed so that my stoma was centered in the opening correctly. I love the two piece because I can put the wafer on totally crooked and still snap the bag on so it hangs straight down (or angled or whatever I want), I can also see my stoma better so I can get it positioned well.

I use drainables 90% of the time, but like using closed-end pouches on my two piece system on hikes where it is impossible or really inconvenient to dig a hole in the dirt to drain into (which is my first preference if it is doable). I just haven't had good luck trying to drain into a ziplock though I have friends that use that method. On my very first post-surgery backpack trip I tried to drain into baggies (because the ground was frozen and I couldn't bury my output) and then pack them out and I had a lot of trouble. It tends to be really windy where I do most of my hiking though so that was a major factor. The baggie kept blowing over in the wind as I was trying to drain my pouch into it and things got really messy. I felt like I needed four hands for that method:) With so many things with ostomies... you find the techniques and materials you like and they can be very different than what others might prefer. Just keep experimenting and eventually the options you personally like best will become very clear.

Hey Nice cuupoftea
I think you will like the Salts products. When I asked for samples I was expecting the normal 2 or 3 bags. They sent 30 bags, plus a lot of other stuff, and said if i needed anything else just to ask. I really hope my insurance will cover their products, I really liked them.

So, is it a given that one piece has a lower profile than two piece, or do some two pieces have very low profiles too? It is very interesting to notice that the seems to be a huge split between Europe and the US on the bag preference as well as frequency of changing- whether as suggested due to differences in coverage of ostomy supplies by health plans, or different medical culture, the difference seems stark. (Where does Canada fall in this respect of preference?) But assuming profile is not a deciding issue, it seems to me that the option of swapping bag sizes and not changing the adhesive/skin connection as often makes two piece a hands down winner to me, as an ostomy virgin weeks from surgery- but what do I know.