Why use an Ostomy Skin Barrier for Peristomal Skin Irritation Prevention?

Peristomal skin is a very sensitive part that most patients get much concerned about. High levels of cleanliness should be observed lest residues of urine and stool get stuck, thus causing some skin irritation and contamination, which increases the perils of getting stoma complications and infections. 

Ostomy skin barriers are very effective in reducing the incidences of infections and contaminations. Research shows that many of the complications linked to stoma are caused by leakages making the discharge getting into contact with the skin. That is the reason why the ostomy skin barrier is highly recommended to attach the ostomy pouch.

Patients who get skin complications around the stoma tend to experience suboptimal-barrier adhesion, constant leakage, and extended peristomal skin destruction. Hence, it is critical to maintain a healthy peristomal-skin to seal the area between the peristomal and the barrier. Similarly, a well-sealed region ensures no leakages take place, and the peristomal skin is healthy.

How Does Ostomy Skin Barriers Aid in Skin irritation prevention?
When using an ostomy skin barrier, a seal gets formed around the stoma. Upon the attachment of the pouch, any effluents from the body system are prevented from getting into contact with your skin. The skin barrier can be separated from the pouch to form a two-part system or can be conjoined with the pouch to create a one-piece system ostomy bag.

Why should you opt for Ostomy Skin Barrier?

• Aids in ensures that discharge odors do not leak
• No friction gets caused around the stoma region of the skin.
• Its adhesiveness does not get interfered with by the body moisture or any wetness. This feature is essential for those patients who have a high perspiration rate.
• It ensures protection of the peristomal skin from any contamination as a result of stool or urine.
• The effectiveness of the system does not get interfered with upon the distorted shape of the stoma. The original size of the stoma continues getting smaller upon the diminishing of the post-surgery swelling. Therefore the patients should do the necessary resizing. 
• It causes no injury to the skin when removing because it has a painless peel off.
  
  
  

The ostomy skin barrier has a custom cutting. Hence, it offers precise sizing to fit properly to reduce the amount of time spent on changing the gadget. To last long and have an extended wear time, minimized skin irritation and leakages result from a fitting device. Additionally, it also means that you visit your physician less often. However, custom cutting is not suitable for a fresh stoma after surgery; instead, it should last for at least eight weeks after the stoma stabilizes and shrunk to act helpful.

What are the available common types of Skin Barriers possible?
The type of skin barrier that a patient opts for is dependent on stoma contour and personal preferences. The following are the commonly used skin barriers.

• Skin barriers that are flexible to adapt well to skin curves and folds.
• Moldable wafers that get manipulated to fit well with body contours of the patient.
• Inward skin protruding barriers with a convex shape to fit retracted and flat stomas.
• Pre-cut barriers: They are standard for patients with well marked-stoma
• Cut-to-fit barriers: They are designed for patients with irregular shape stomas or those whose stoma-size is reducing in size.