Hi Everyone,

Alllrighty then. I want to know how I can manage to go days and even weeks with no problems with leaking or other nastiness, then BAM! Out of nowhere, I have a leak, change my appliance and that one leaks after a few hours or a day, change again and that one leaks and on and on for a few days, then BAM! again and the problem stops. Same appliance system, same methods, clean and dry for changes, quiet stoma, no unusual degrees of sweating or other things that might cut down on wear time, no nothing that I can figure.

Am I EVER Going to get to the point where I can stop thinking about leaks?

Shell, I have a question for you and for anyone else who uses the ConvaTed Esteem Synergy moldable durahesive wafer. I've been using this wafer (along with Shell's famous pairing of a Coloplast pouch- it works fabulously... mostly) with an Eakin seal because of persistent excoriated skin and stubborn as heck leaking problems.

Since using the seals, my skin has improved a billion percent. I am considering trying to go without it, since my skin is pretty much completely intact.

When you place the molable wafer, do you do anything to smoosh the soft moldable part down around your stoma, or do you just press around the plastic covered part of the wafer? I have not had to deal with this using the Eakin seals and I want to make sure that my skin is protected.

I'm kinda figuring you need to make sure the moldable part adheres to your skin, but the one time I recall my stoma nurse actually applying this wafer to Squirt herself, I don't remember her doing anything to specifically press this part of the wafer down around my skin. I COULD be remembering incorectly though, since I have tried a couple of the sizes of the wafer since I'm right in between for stoma size. She may have been using the small wafer, and I have to roll that one all the way to the edge of the plastc part of the wafer, so it would be irrelevant to fuss with the moldable part of the wafer.

I'm thinking I might try going without an Eakin seal on my next change, which will be tomorrow night. Hmm... maybe I'll wait until the weekend just in case I have problems leaking.

-Rae

Hi Rae,

I never use anything like seals or pastes etc with the moldable wafer and I only use powder if my skin is excoriated (very rare) because even that undermines the seal. They are made to adhere to your skin with the warmth of your body and putting anything underneath is bound to interfere with it's ability to stick properly.

The size of wafer I use is (as luck would have it) exactly the right size for Wee Willie so I don't really have to do anything much other than just apply it. However, Wee Willie wasn't always this skinny, in fact he was quite a plump little fella in the early days, so I would roll the wafer back so that it was about about 1/8 inch bigger than him, then once I had placed the wafer I would use my fingers to press down and unroll the moldable part until it was flush up against the base of Wee Willie. I would keep pressing around the base with my fingers until I was absolutely sure that the wafer was secure.

The other trick I use is to make sure that Wee Willie is completely dry before applying the wafer. I wrap him in a piece of paper towel (remember he is quite long) so that will soak up any mucous he may have produced and just whip the paper off immediately before I apply the wafer. This makes sure that I don't accidently scrape a load of mucous under the wafer while I'm slipping it over Wee Willies head.

Other than applying a no sting barrier wipe before I apply the wafer I really don't use anything else in my preparation.

Try this system and see how you get on. Good luck.

Shell

Rae I have the same problem! Weeks and sometimes months will go by with zero leaks. Then all of a sudden I am struggling to keep a wafer on for a day or two. Same system, same methods and one day it just stops. I have yet to figure this one out.

Ive never had a leak and maybe ive just been lucky, but im not sure i understand where the leak comes from? Does the flange just not stick?? I had one that had a little whole under the lip of the tupperware part, but caught it before i put it on.

Depending on what system you use, leaks can come form a few places. The most irritating ones for me are leaks under the wafer. You can get these from any one piece or any two piece system. They're hard on your skin, and the more you leak, the harder it is to stop having leaks because your skin gets so raw. Little wrinkles and dips and bulges around your stoma can make it harder for some wafers to get a good seal. Sometimes it can feel like you need a degree in engineering to figure out how to make some leaking problems stop. This is one reason that some folks here like the moldable wafers that ConvaTec has been putting out. They are supposed to be able to mold to all those little irregularities.

If you use an adhesive coupling system like the ConvaTec Esteem Synergy, or the Coloplast SC, sometimes you leak between the pouch and the flange. Shell and I both use this system, but we also both use ConvaTec wafers and Coloplast pouches (all her idea- the woman's brilliant!)since the Coloplast have a double "gasket" and tend to not leak here as much as ConvaTec's do. Besides, I despise ConvaTec pouches, the darned plastic things. Coloplasts are much more fabric-like.

If you use a two-piece "tupperwear" system where the pouch snaps onto the flange with a ring, or if you use an autolock system, you can still leak around the point where the pouch attaches to the wafer. Sometimes you just don't get it snapped shut all the way around, or sometimes the stinkers pop off or an edge lifts off.

No matter how you cut it, leaks are no fun. They're messy, frustrating, and can happen at really really embarrassing times.

-Rae