Does anyone know if remicade will heal this horrible, painful infliction? My drs. are saying I have no choice but to go on remicade. I have a very painful sore, which they are saying is a fistula, I disagree. It doesn't go anywhere, its a surface thing. Just wanting to know if remicade will help or make it worse.

it should help. my dermatologist wanted me to try remicade or humira for my peristomal pyoderma after i didn't respond to some injections and dapsone (i think that was the name of the drug), but he said i needed a definite crohn's diagnosis from the surgeon or specialist in order to get funding from the government. (it's thousands of dollars for a treatment so i couldn't afford to pay myself). i couldn't get funding, so i used cyclosporine instead. it took months, but it did work. i did take remicade in the past for ibd, way before my pyoderma. i didn't have any side effects other than feeling tired the day i would get the i.v. ....it only helped my ibd a little though. good luck!!

I am in the same situation. I have a hole the size of a quarter to the left of my stoma. I was getting steroid injections but that only went so far. It started to heal a bit right up by the stoma, but with a few leaks, the hole has gotten farther and deeper. It takes about 5 inches of seasorb to pack it.

I'm back on flagyl though I don't know if it's too late. Between the ostomy nurse and my doctor, they are saying that we'll probably try remicade soon if it does not improve.

Its only gotten worse lately, it's very sore and I'm having leaking issues now.

I had the same thing beside my stoma. My ostomy nurse cut the wafer to fit over the sore so it could drain and that seemed to help it heal up pretty fast. When i would pack it and place the wafer over it it would ooze and seep under the wafer and then I woul have to change that day. But if I cut the wafer opening and allowed for the sore to drain into the bag that helped it a lot. I wasn't on Remicaide at the time, I think I was on Flagyl or Cipro. They are soooo painful. I hope yours heals soon, I know it would put me in tears to touch it.

Big D, I had a few nasty ulcers and my wafer would pretty much fall off the first day because the moisture from the ulcers was ruining the adhesion. Then my nurse showed me a trick that helped me get a few days of wear without problems...

I had to buy some Aquacell (there is also Aquacell Silver you can buy if there is stool getting in the wound- the silver in it helps prevent infection). Aquacell looks like a little square of fabric, kind of like a piece of felt. It is white or silver.

I also had to get some sheets of Coloplast skin barrier. They are beige and sticky on one side-- kind of look like square pieces of really flexible wafer.

Cut out Aquacell so it will just cover the oozing sores, and maybe spread some steriod ointment on one side (I used "Protopic"). Place the Aquacell (ointment side down) on top of the ulcers. The Aquacell absorbs and traps the fluids coming out, so the moisture stays in one little area.

Next, cut out a piece of skin barrier that is just a little bigger than the Aquacell/ulcer. Peel off the backing and place it over the Aquacell, making sure it is adhered to the skin around the Aquacell. The barrier traps the wet Aquacell piece and ensure that the moisture will not make any contact with the wafer, which would ruin the adhesion.

Finally, put on your ring or whatever and wafer as usual over top of this stuff.

Hope this works for someone else too!

Good luck.

oh, and I got the steroid ointment form the dermatologist, who was treating my pyoderma. I don't think it does very much unless you can apply it often.... I only used it every few days but I figured it couldn't hurt... I was getting steroid injections in the ulcers now and then too.

I didn't want to rip my wafer off sooner than I had to just so I could apply this ointment;I was also told by my nurse that trauma to the area can make the lcers worse or start them up when the PG is active. So, be careful not to roughly scrub or pick glue off in the area (leaving a tiny bit of old glue residue won't hurt).

Cheers

optimist, I use seasorb, very similar to aquacell silver. Did not think to try the barrier though.

Starting remicade tomorrow afternoon.