I have had SUCH good luck with my skin for the 19 months I have had my temporary ileostomy, but now...

The last couple of days I've felt a soreness and tenderness at the bottom edge of my wafer, so this morning (day 5) I did a change (and shower), and found that I have a blister (for lack of a better word) right where the edge of the wafer touches my skin.

I think that maybe the skin was already a bit irritated, and then when I applied this last wafer, its edge rubbed against the skin the last couple of days and really made it angry.

Anyway, it looks like a blister that has "popped," with what looks like puss down in there, and it's reddish and sort of hard.

I took a shower, did a thorough cleaning of all the skin around my stoma, including the blister, dabbed a bit of Neosporin on the blister, covered that with a band-aid, and then applied the wafer and bag.

I'm thinking I'll give it maybe 2 or 3 days, then do another change to see how it's doing.

Any thoughts about this? How might I take better care of it? Do I need to see a doctor?

Thanks!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Rudolph,

Hello Randolph you might want to pm Jan the almighty with this question. Do you have an ostomy nurse who can take a look at it? If I have any queer issues, i.e. bumps, redness, skin peeling off, etc., I take a trip to my AWESOME ostomy nurse and she gives me what I need to fix it.

Sounds like it hurts. Hang in there and please post to let us all know the outcome.

Cat

my son has stitches under his. I do'nt know why it has to be that way, but there are 3 stitches next to his stoma where the skin was slit. Not a very good place for this and I don't have a clue how they would heal under there either.

I’ve had a few problems like this. What I’ve done is cut away anything that is near the sore spot (wafer & tape). I just leave it open to the air. Of course this is not ideal for wear purposes, I’ll need to change the appliance much sooner, but it helps a great deal with the healing process.

Since your issue is right at the wafers edge, you should be OK doing this. You’ll just need to change after about 2-3 days.

Kenelog spray is great; my skin gets really irritated by the tape. All I need it a couple days using Kenelog 2x daily and my skin is much happier.

Thanks, everyone, for your helpful responses! Very reassuring, as always, to hear from those who know!

I had something similar except closer to my stoma. It wouldn't heal up and when I went to see the ET nurse it turned out to be a suture that was coming to the surface and she just pulled it out and then it healed fine. Not so sure why you would have one at the edge of the wafer but it is probably a good idea to have your ET nurse take a look.

Good luck with it!
Jim

Hi Rudolph,

Do you think you might have been bitten by something? That might account for the blister type spot and if it was rubbing up against you wafer that could certainly irritate it?

I think cutting around it like Bill suggested is a good idea and will allow it time to dry out and heal. Let us know how it's doing on your next wafer change.

Take care

Shell

Hi, everyone.

I changed the wafer yesterday (day 4) and the blister had healed considerably. The hardness and redness were gone, and all that was left was just a little bit of irritated skin.

So I cleaned it well, applied a dab of topical antibiotic, and covered it with a Spiderman band-aid, followed by the wafer.

The previous band-aid was Superman, so I think that the key is to use a superhero band-aid!

Thanks, again, everyone, for all your help.