Question about ileostomy stoma

I had the mucocutaneous separation on my second stoma. One of my stitches popped off when I sneezed a few days after surgery. I was instructed to use a barrier ring over the separation to keep waste out of it and it healed within about 10 days. I think if the separation has been bigger it might have been packed with some wound healing stuff but mine was smallish so it wasn't necessary.

Sorry to hear about the ulcers on the stoma, luckily I haven't experienced that one so I don't have any advice.

I get ulcers on my stoma. I didn't experience them until about 1.5 years after getting my ostomy though. They look a bit like canker sores and range in size from a tiny spot to slightly larger than the diameter of a pencil eraser. The ulcers have been getting more frequent over the last year so I just had them biopsied. The pathology report said no Crohn's but did show non-specific inflammation of the terminal ileum. My GI thinks it could be caused by simple surface irritation from the bag, though she isn't absolutely sure that is the cause. Since they don't come with any other symptoms I just don't worry about them. Each individual ulcer lasts 1-3 weeks and then goes away before another one seems to crop up. Oh well.

My stoma changes length and goes anywhere from about 1.5" to almost 1.75" at given times. It never prolapses though. When the smooth muscle of the stoma seems to relax (especially when it is hot out or when I work out) it gets longer. Other times the stoma sort of tightens up and is shorter. During my pouch changes when it is free and out of the bag it always has its best posture:)

I also had a mucocutaneous separation after surgery. My stoma nurse had me pack the opening with Meglisorb (a cotton-like algae derived wound dressing) and then put my Eakin ring and wafer over that as usual. It seemed to be working well, but then I ended up going back to surgery for an abdominal incision complication. My surgeon cleaned and re-closed the stoma separation since I was under anyway so I don't know how long it would have taken to heal on its own. I was told these separations are fairly common... especially if you have been on prednisone.

Hang in there!

I feel you. I have Crohn's and I worry about it returning. That absolutely sucks it returned that quickly. Was your Crohn's in the colon only or did you have it in the small bowel as well?

I think the disgust is natural. The stoma is a pretty hideous sight: when I first saw pictures of it, I almost cried. I've had mine now for about 3 months and a half. For ages I found just removing the pouch difficult, because I didn't really want to look at it. Then I decided that, as I was stuck with it for life, I'd better try and stop being squeamish. You can make yourself get used to things; doctors and nurses have to deal with worse sights every day. That said, you're only a month out of surgery, so give yourself a bit of a break on that front.

You should be able to wear tight clothing again in time. There are belts, and so on, which flatten the bag. Other folks can probably give more advice on that than me, though.

Finally, I have the same problem! The output hole faces up towards me. I asked my stoma nurse about that and she said it was the way the stoma had settled. If it was a surgical botch job, she didn't say that. At any rate maybe yours is worse than mine, 'cos my stoma seems to drain okay. The main problem is that it's the skin immediately at the top of the stoma, rather than underneath it, which gets affected; it look sore and almost bruised. If you really do have bad drainage issues, perhaps you could try a convex wafer or even get a stoma revision. Sorry I couldn't help more on that front. I see my surgeon next month and I'm gonna ask her about the output hole facing upwards.