HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Standing or Laying / Barrier Question

Support Forums
>
Ostomies
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 11/20/2015 2:27 PM (GMT 0)
Probably a silly question but was curious, when you place your skin barrier on to your body, especially those with needs for a convexity application, do you lay down or do you stand to do it? I know if I lay down my skin completely flattens out, if I stand my stoma sinks in and the skin around it is higher. I have a tendency to lay down when I do mine and was curious what others prefer?

I'm currently having some small skin issues still right up against my stoma. My stoma is more oval. I'm using the ConvaTec moldable skin barriers. The initial hole in the skin barrier that gets molded is too tall for my stoma, it leaves a gap either on the top or bottom depending on which edge I make flush to the stoma. I end up only rolling out the sides of the moldable portion. I have a hard time getting the cut to fit barriers to get a good fit too. Trying to cut the oval shape perfectly has been a bit of a challenge. Round stomas are SO MUCH EASIER. I was wondering, if I could use a barrier ring that I can stretch to fit perfectly around my stoma then place my usual moldable skin barrier on top of that ring? I do have a convex application so I didn't know if that ring would interfere with the convexity? I kind of molded a ring around my stoma this morning during bag change and it looks like I can mold it pretty close to my stoma and my thinking is that would fill in the gaps left by the hole in the skin barrier? I need to get my red skin healed, I crusted the hell out of it this morning.

Thanks
Gordon
Posted 11/21/2015 4:38 AM (GMT 0)
I sit when I put my wafer on. I put an Eakin seal directly on the wafer. Just stretch it a little to fit. I know some prefer to put it around the stoma and then place the wafer on top of it. Either works. I use the seal with a convex wafer with no problems. I go six days between changes and I have a large hernia. But doing this I still get a good seal. I do make the seal ever so slightly bigger than the wafer opening and hold a little pressure on it for a few minutes until it softens with the warmth of your skin to get a really good seal. I fit the wafer as close to the stoma as I can without it touching. The reason I make the seal a little bigger is to give it room to expand as it softens. Some people like it to expand some beyond the wafer opening so it turtlenecks the stoma. I never tried that. My stoma nurse told me the seal works best if it always has the wafer behind it for support. So you just have to experiment and see what works best for you. As for the oval shape, mine is slightly oval and the nurse showed me that if I pull up a little above the stoma as I place the wafer it becomes perfectly round. So I don't have to try to cut an oval. This might work for you as well depending on which direction the oval goes and how much of an oval it is.
Posted 11/21/2015 7:07 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you for your reply :) I do have a lot of eakin seals from my first Ostomy. I also have some free samples of those Brava moldable barrier rings. I just ordered StomaHesive Strips from ConvaTec as well to try. I know with the ConvaTec Moldable skin barriers I use, when it does get wet it does swell and turtleneck well around the stoma but sometimes it still lets some output contact my skin. The direction of my oval is left to right. I didn't even think about trying to slightly pull it round, with my luck it will probably snap back to the oval shape before I can get the wafer stuck down lol. I should try and pull it round and measure with one of those measuring guides. Thank you for your suggestions
Posted 11/21/2015 9:27 PM (GMT 0)
I always do it standing. I don't really have a good place to lie down, plus I get all the supplies set up on the counter in the bathroom so I am prepared. I think the strips might help you. At the end with my loop, i was having the best luck putting a little ring of the strips on first, then an eakin, then apply the convatec moldable :)
Posted 11/23/2015 10:12 AM (GMT 0)
Lol. Your snap back line really made me laugh. Yes it will definitely snap back. I hold mine pulled up with one hand while I place the wafer with the other. Then I let go. That will be awesome if it works for you and you don't have to cut the wafer to fit. One less step is always good.
Posted 11/23/2015 12:34 PM (GMT 0)
I've never understood how you can change when lying down. Maybe if I had a mirror on the ceiling. When I had the home care nurses, they usually insisted on doing it on my bed (which is quite high) which frustrated me because I couldn't see what they were doing. Like NSSG, I like to have my supplies laid out on the bathroom counter, not to mention being close to both the tap and the toilet in case of misbehaviour on the part of my stoma. I also have a small standing mirror on the counter that magnifies, so I can get a good look at what I am doing.

I struggled with cutting an oval opening in the wafer, till a nurse told me my stoma was really round, and to press on my surrounding flab to make it circular. It worked fine and has made my life much easier. That was about 9 or 10 months ago, and I find it takes much less pressure now to make it round than it did at the beginning.

My experience has been that both using cut to fit wafers and seals detract from the convexity of my wafers. I get much less leakage with pre-cut, and without the seals. I just use cavilon.

Ann
Posted 11/23/2015 5:44 PM (GMT 0)

MeByTheSea said...
Lol. Your snap back line really made me laugh. Yes it will definitely snap back. I hold mine pulled up with one hand while I place the wafer with the other. Then I let go. That will be awesome if it works for you and you don't have to cut the wafer to fit. One less step is always good.

I tried to stretch mine to a round shape this morning when I did my bag change. I measured it with one of those guides and it's 22mm round stoma. I used the medium ConvaTec Moldable skin barrier and I barely had to roll the hole wider. Lets see how this holds up over the next few days :)

Post Edited (blksteeda) : 11/23/2015 2:38:27 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 11/23/2015 8:06 PM (GMT 0)
So cool, keep us posted. Here's wishing you at least four days wear time! 😊
Posted 11/25/2015 11:21 PM (GMT 0)
I started out laying but since I started standing my leakage issue has resolved. A stoma nurse suggested this. I actually prefer laying down but I also prefer no leaks, lol
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply