ok, new problem...the skin around my stoma is about 80-90% healed (yeah!!!)...but, the skin under the wafer is soooo irritated and itchy and red. im assuming im allergic to something. it happend right after my surgery when i wasnt using any barrier wipes. i bought some no sting wipes (generic) and it almost went away. but i hated the wipes, they were too wet and took forever to dry. so, i bought some regular convatec (i think) wipes. they work wonderful and dry fast, but maybe they are burning my skin?? or how would i know if it is the wipe or the wafer? if it is the wafer, what do i do?? what happens if i go to my takedown sugery with this skin problem, will she postpone it???

The only way to figure out which thing you are allergic to is by process of elimination. If it's the wafer, you'll have to try different ones. My son was allergic to several of them. Also, you can become sensitized to wipes or wafers over time--ones that didn't bother you at first may cause a reaction later on. The surgery will not be postponed because of a skin problem.

ok, good. i will switch things up and see. my main concern was the surgery. if i cant fix the problem, i can certainly deal with it for 2 more months! thanks!!

I actually cut the paper tape on my wafer by half...just cut right around in a circle. This keeps the amount of skin that gets covered to a minimum. It helps a lot for me. Never had any issues with leaks or anything with the smaller tape diameter.

Hi, I don't know if my advice will help or not, or if it adheres to your specific situation! But I will tell you what I know!

Okay, so after my first week out of the hospital, the home care nurse came to my house to change the appliance, and my skin was a complete disaster. My skin was bright red, and covered in little red tiny bumps. The rash was in a perfect square shape, underneath where the wafer was. The home care nurse said I was allergic to the wafer, and use a barrier device. So I did, and it worked for the first month, there was a little irritation but it wasn't bad. Then all of a sudden I started getting the rash again.. and I couldn't figure out why because I was using the barrier protector spray just as before.

So I went back to the hopsital and talked to the E.T. nurse, who is so helpful and knowledgeable! She said she is 100% against barrier protector wipes and sprays. She says that in her experience most of her patients who have sensitive skin are allergic to it, and it made their skin break down even more. She, and all the other E.T nurses in the hopsital, never reccomend using those. She says that the stoma powder, when used sparingly is the best thing you can use.

Since I had some open skin areas, she gave me a kind of of a hydrocolloid dressing. Called duoderm. To protect the wound. It just went went between the wafer and the skin. But I dont necessarily reccomend that.. because it leaked the same day she put a new appliance on with the duoderm. But maybe it will work for you.

So I followed her advice. And for the past month my skin has been perfect underneath the wafer It isnt red or anything.

So maybe that will work for you. Just using a minimal amount of stoma poweder.. Hope that helps

well, i thought the wipes might be the problem. so i only used the powder a few days ago when i changed it. but, it didnt seem any better when i changed it this morning...today it itches so bad its almost driving me crazy! so, tomorrow when i change it, i will try again with just the powder. i hope it gets better...if i scratch it, it just gets "weepy" and worse. ugh

I have had a similar problem and I discovered that if I didn't get ALL the old adhesive off my skin would react where the old adhesive was. I am allergic to certain adhesives so my ET nurses originally thought that it was my allergy and that I might have to go to a non-adhesive system. I discovered that as long as I pushed my skin away from the wafer when changing (rather than pulling the wafer off my skin) and I removed all the excess adhesive from my skin (I use a non-chemical adhesive remover and clean REALLY well afterward) the skin issues went away. They don't come back unless if I don't get all the adhesive off when I change. My ET nurses said the same thing that most people say - use the least amount of stuff when changing for better skin quality. I use stoma powder when needed but otherwise don't use anything.

One way I discovered that my issue wasn't the wafer in its fresh out of the package state was by cutting a piece of it and putting it on my skin and leaving it there for the same time as my wafer was on (4-6 days). When I changed my wafer I took off my trial piece and there was no rash underneath. That led me to continue on my quest for and solution to my issue. I did discover in my trials that the Convatec Durahesive wafers are least likely to cause issues and my Hollister pouches worked with them but I preferred the floating flange of the Hollister.

Good luck in finding the cause and solution to your problems. It's best to figure it out sooner rather than later as the worse your skin gets the harder and longer it takes to get it back in shape.

well, i've tried a few different things. nothing is working. and now my skin is weeping and nothing will stick to it!!! i had a leak after 12 hours. if i dont get this figured out soon, i cant go back to work!! im going to call the nurse tomorrow and try to get some advice...

sounds like an allergy. Get a hold of an et nurse.There are so many different appliances out there. The ET can give you many different samples for you to try until you find one that works for you. It took me 2 months to finally find one that would actually stick to me for more than 2 days. I ended up with many leaks. But when I found the one I liked it worked great and my troubles were gone.
Good Luck

Definitely get samples and do skin tests and also check out the posts by Blenda. She had a horrible time getting a wafer to stick once her skin got bad (2nd degree burn) and she used a couple of different methods to get it to stay on while her skin healed. I have been lucky that the powder has been enough for my wafer to stick even when parts of my skin were weeping. Do you wear a belt? It might help to get the wafer to stay on longer while your skin is healing. The more you have to change the more damage you may be doing to your skin. I wear a 4" belt during the day and it's worked wonders for me. If I don't put it on when I change I leak within 24 hours. Gotta love my stoma dimples.

Here's my attempt to link to Blenda's topic on her skin issues. If it doesn't work search for posts by Blenda in the general discussion area. Need incision and ostomy help-yesterday!!

It sounds like you might have a yeast infection. The red, itchy, weepy bumps are classic symptoms. Your stoma nurse or doctor can prescribe some anti-fungal power that you can sprinkle on your skin. You will want to blow off any excess and then spray on some skin barrier. When I had this happen it was sheer hell until I started doing this and changing every two days. The powder caused less adhesion but helped clear up the infection. Mine was so bad I also needed oral diflucan for 7 days to get it under control.

Are you using an adhesive remover spray to remove the wafer? I found I mainlky got itchy when I was not using the spray,or no9t using enough. I found cavillon sticks the best for me,and if very sore powder with cavillon spray over the top. I am currently dealing with a 5 inch square patch of extremly itchy skin from the dressings following takedown and had forgotten how very unpleasant the sore skin is.

Hi Sarah...

I'm allergic to something that has to do my wafer also. It's worse somedays then others. I take a benedryl when the itching is about to drive me crazy. Good luck...

i have a referral to an ostomy outpatient clinic at sutter general in sacramento. just waiting for them to call me to make an appointment!!!

this sucks. well, my appointment is tuesday. thats good. but i changed it this morning, and right now the only thing keeping it on is the belt. the wafer is so wet and gooey i can lift it right up! but its hard to change in the evening because of ouput. i just ate dinner. plus, i will have to change it again in the morning anyways. so, i will just do as i did last night and sleep with a couple towels underneath me and take benadryl...tomorrow i may just try to leave the wafer off until my skin is not weeping anymore and just put it on bare skin. will this work? i think the weepy fluid mixed with the powder makes it so gooey. i will call my surgeon on tuesday after my appointment and see if she can speed up my surgery. she originally quoted me 6 months. then 3. since we still dont know why i had so much pus in my belly, she probably wont, but it's worth a shot!!