Peristomal Skin

I have at times struggled with my peristomal skin like I mentioned in a post last week when I wrote about self care for your ostomy I just wanted to talk about the different issues I have come across when it comes to the skin around your stoma, I haven’t experienced all of these but there are some accounts across social media where people who live with conditions talk about it in depth and openly. I guess that is the beauty of social media you can search tags and find almost anything!

When I say peristomal skin I personally mean the skin underneath the base plate; I’m not sure if that’s how the experts word it but it’s around the stoma and in my mind that’s what counts. Especially as it’s the skin that is affected if you have a leak!

Things I’ve experienced have been things like:

• granulomas – these are little lumps around your stoma that can be caused by your bag not being cut properly and it rubs causing scar tissue. They can be removed with silver nitrate by your stoma nurse.
• skin breakdown – this is generally from output being left to sit on the skin – sometimes I get an itch but don’t realise it has leaked and then this happens.
• rashes
• eczema
• bruising – from when I have had to do more bag changes than usual especially in a short space of time

Things other people have experienced include:

• dermatitis
• pyoderma – this seems to be ulcers on the skin and generally but not limited too people with IBD can get them I also think it can appear anywhere
• psorasis

I’m sure there are others but these are the ones I have come across that people have posted about – if you suffer with something different please let me know and I can add it to the list; you never know you may help someone feel less alone!

I tend to find that everyone’s skin care when they have these issues are slightly different so I thought I would just do a generic list for people but I highly advise getting it looked at by a stoma care nurse who can advise you on a more in depth level.

• barrier wipes
• barrier sprays
• barrier creams
• ointments (for the generic skin issues like eczema etc)
• seals
• wedges

I hope this has helped a little bit, please remember though that the issues we face can be as individual as we are and what works for me may not work for you or a condition may display slightly different symptoms.