Granulomas

Have you heard of the term ‘granuloma’? It is a common side effect of having an ostomy and can be easily dealt with by your stoma care nurse. 

Basically a granuloma is your skin healing up on broken skin; they look like little red lumps around your stoma site and some can bleed or be uncomfortable. You can get them from friction caused by your bag or your peristomal skin being sore or damaged. Your stoma nurse can remove these with silver nitrate which can sting a bit but it shrinks them down to nothing over a short period of time. It is a very similar treatment to what they use for warts.

I had a couple of granulomas when I first had my stoma formed and at first I wasn’t overly bothered about them, I just thought it could be my stoma settling down until they started to grow. So I rang my stoma care nurse and asked her what she thought it could be, on the phone she was like “Oh yeah I know what that is just pop down to the hospital when you can and we will sort it out for you.” She literally just dotted this qutip type applicator, coated with silver nitrate on the lumps and a did gasp a bit but it wasn’t too uncomfortable and they turned white and within a few days they had gone completely.

The easiest way to not get them is to keep your peristomal skin as healthy as possible and cutting your base plate to the correct size to avoid it rubbing on your ostomy. Regular check ups with your stoma nurse if needed can help with catching any issues before they become a problem or how you can better manage them at home.

Have you ever had a granuloma? Did you know what it was? Had you been given any prior warning that it could happen and why?