Skin care & cleaning
I have had a colostomy for the past 5 months and have enjoyed reading
the various items in the newsgroups and with great hesitation, because I
have not seen either of these suggestions made so far, offer my experience.
Cleaning: I cut a roll of paper towel in half with a carving knife, this
gives me oversize toilet paper sheets of durable paper which doesn't
disintegrate when wet and I find it perfect for cleaning my stoma.
The second is that initially I suffered from a really bad reaction to the
adhesive on the various types of puches I used and my skin was so raw that
it was bleeding on occasions. I now clean myself thoroughly, using wet paper
towels, dry off with the hairdryer and then apply an antiseptic cream called
Paraderm Plus. This is a non oily probably water soluble product which, if I
really rub it into my skin and then rub the area with a paper towel to
remove any excess and then dry with the hair dryer, allows my puch to adher
to me without any problem and my skin remains pretty painless. I have tried
other Antiseptic creams but they leave a layer on my skin and the adhesive
won't stick to it.
I hope the above might help someone, heavens knows I have picked up so many
good ideas from you good folk and I am very grateful
-I tried two other brands, names escape me and Skin prep, because of the
alcohol was agony. The point I am making is, in fact, the antiseptic cream
has stopped the problems.
- For my parastoma skin I use 100% AlaVera as advised by one of my ET
nurses.