Burning around stoma.

Last night I did a change a few hours before I went to bed. The skin around my stoma looked good, except for one little tiny red spot at the 12 o'clock point. No big deal, I thought. I have not had any problems with leaking or skin irritation or anything so far- in fact, even after 4 days and a shower or two, I sometimes have trouble getting the flange unstuck from my skin. Anyway, I was just falling asleep when I felt this burning or stinging right around my stoma, like under where the Eakin Seal is. I reeaally didn't want to take everything off after having just put it on, but after a little while of the feeling coming and going (it was not constant), I figured better safe than sorry and I'd better have a look at what was going. So, off everything came, aaanndd... best I could figure, a teensy tiny bit of outpout had worked it's way under the flange and the Eakin Seal and was there on the edge of my stoma and my skin, on the bottom, 6 o'clock point. There were also a couple of red dots like that on the top, now on the bottom, but a couple of inches from the purported leak. Everything else looked absolutely fine. Got myself all set up and went back to bed. Now, today, I have had that same burning/stinging feeling a couple of times, and it hurt! It's gone now and I don't know what the deal is. I have a feeling it's not a leak, but my skin just being irritated where the red spots are. I have this powder stuff the ostomy nurse gave me, but she didn't explain how to use it... best I can figure out, I need Skin Prep in order to use it, or else the flange won't be able to stick on top of just the powder, right? I have Skin Prep coming in the mail in a couple of days.

Any advice on what might be going on? Do you think it's just skin irritation, or could there be some sort of leaking going on? Oh, by the way, I think last night I cut the flange a bit too big, which I thought explained how some output snuck out of there... I definitely made sure to make it smaller the second time, so nothing should be able to squeeze out of there, lol. I use Hollister two-piece, and, as I said, Eakin Seals.

I also find that sometimes it hurts right after I change the pouch.

You do need skin prep for the powder, it forms kind of a crust. But it can make the pouch not stick, so you have to be careful not to get much powder on.... I had this problem for a while and I just used a little prep on the area, without the powder, and that helped. You can also put some paste inside the Eakin seal if it doesn't fit well (got that idea from Blueheron, haven't tried it yet).

Jackie have you tried the eakin seals (or adapt rings)? They are much easier to use than the powder/spray around your stoma and they work better too.

A little OT, but does it bother you that all the opaque ostomy bags are "flesh colored" for white people? That's something that's bugged me from the start, although they match my skin pretty well.... I talked to my nurse about it, and she was going to talk about it at a conference. I have a colleague whose niece had this surgery, and she is very dark skinned and had a hard time adjusting, and I just wonder if having a bag that was closer to her skin tone would help a tiny bit....

if you blow off the excess powder it shouldn't cause more changes. You really don't need much to help the skin.

Do you use stoma paste? I apply it right on the inside edge of the wafer ring before placing the pouch on me and it works great. almost never leaks.

The only other thing I can think of is maybe you're having an allergic reaction? Something to keep in mind if it gets worse. ;)

the paste doesn't just help keep the wafer attached but it also fills in any cracks or creases you may have in the wafer to prevent and leakage. Boy, once a little amount gets under the wafer, your toast.

If its still stuck that much then you could try waiting an extra day to change.