An ostomy will change the lives of people with a variety of gastrointestinal conditions, from IBD to other such means.
They do require special care, and there are a ton of products out there for a person to use, with a different combination to get the correct fit that’ll prevent leaks.
However, how do you change the ostomy appliance?
Well, you’re about to find out. Here, we’ll go over how you can change an ostomy appliance without the help of the nurse or doctor.
How to Change it
First, you need your supplies. Below is a list of the supplies needed before you begin:
Skin barrier
Wafer
Remover of adhesive
Pencil
Measuring utensil
Stoma paste
Towel or washcloth
Plastic bag
Scissors
A new pouch
Get all of this first, and then, you can star the changing process.
The Steps for changing
First, you want to start at a time when your stoma isn’t going to be outputting, such as in the morning or maybe right before bed if you ate hours beforehand.
You then want to wash you hands. Take the pouch from here and empty it like you normally do.
Wipe the tape that’s around the old wafer with that adhesive remover. You might need to hold the skin at this point so that you can pull off the wafer with your free hand.
If you’re still seeing adhesive around there, wipe it off at your discretion, and then take all of the waste minus the clip into the plastic bag, then of course get it to the side for disposal.
From here, clean the stoma and the skin with a washcloth and some warm water. You can do this in the shower, but don’t use soaps that are scented or anything that’ll irritate this. You also may want to make sure all the waste around is gone.
Lightly pat the skin dry, and then with the measuring guide measure the stoma, leaving about an eight to a sixteenth of an inch between the guide itself and the stoma.
Trace this back onto the start hole and wafer directly into the middle, and then cut the hole out.
Put the skin protector onto the peristomal skin, in the same way the wafer will sit.
From here, peel the paper and then use stoma paste around the cut circle, smoothing this so that it does evenly dry and apply.
Remember at this point to remove the tape backing, apply the appliance there making sure that it’s in the center of where the hole is, then press it firmly to get rid of the wrinkles.
From here, slap on a new pouch directly onto this, and then make sure that it stays in place by tugging on this softly.
From here, lightly press into the wafer to ensure that it’s got a good seal to this.
Then finally, close the bag bottom with your clip and you’re done!
It’s that simple, and you can definitely get this done quickly. It’s important that you do stand over a towel or some paper towels in the event that waste does drop from the stoma. You also shouldn’t do this right after you eat either.
It is common for the stoma to bleed, but if you do notice that there are some weird symptoms, talk to the ostomy nurse about it.
Finally, you should try out a variety of products, since of course, the sky’s the limit with these. You may even get free samples too, so try that.
