Hi everyone
Hi all I was hoping that someone could give me some advice on barrier creams?
I had my bowel resection surger at the begin of October and at the same time I had my second stomach surgery, I've no idea what the first stomach was but I now have a ileostomy and it doesn't seem to matter what size hole or what shape I cut in my stomach bags they just never seem to fit properly and I now have very sore skin around the actual stoma so I'm hoping to try and find some kind of protection to put onto the affected skin but I've no idea what I'm looking for other than a barrier cream.
so my question is does anyone have or has had the same issue and what product or products did you use?
any help or advice would be very much appreciated.
many thanks
Hi Sbee and welcome to the group.
I’m sorry you’re having problems getting the right size of hole cut in your bag-I get my bags precut for me so I don’t often get any sore skin as I do get a good fit.
However, I have occasionally had sore skin around my stomas and I choose not to use a barrier cream of any sort-I find calamine lotion works very well to soothe my skin and help it heal quickly. I put some of the lotion on a cotton pad and rub it gently around the stoma. Then I let this dry, or if I’m in a hurry I’ll use a hairdryer on a cool setting to dry the area thoroughly before I put my new bag on.
I’m sure others will be able to recommend specific barrier creams for you but I find the calamine lotion is a cheap solution that I keep on hand just in case, and it was a tip from my stoma nurse.
I hope you can find something which helps.
Sarah xx
It takes time for the stoma to heal and settle after surgery so I used to cut my bags myself. The shape changed, so I had to cut holes which were not round-my urostomy has a crescent shape and neither of my stomas protrude from my body at all, so I did have a lot of leaks to begin with!
I waited for quite a while until I was confident enough that my stomas wouldn’t change further before requesting my bags to be cut and everything is fine now.
Sometimes simple solutions can be very effective, and I’ve certainly found that with calamine lotion so I hope you get some relief.
Sarah xx
