What issues should be paid attention to stoma care in winter?

In winter, many ostomy friends often feel dry and itchy skin, which also has a certain impact on the sticking of the ostomy bag, especially the elderly. This is mainly due to the cold weather and dry air in winter, which reduce the secretion of sebaceous glands and sweat on the skin surface of the stoma, which in turn makes the skin lack of sebum and sweat and become dry and itchy.

How to clean the stoma skin?
The skin around the stoma needs to be kept clean and dry, and the skin around the stoma can be gently washed with the stoma cleaning sheet.

How to deal with bleeding from stoma?
When replacing the ostomy bag or cleaning the stoma, sometimes the capillaries are damaged.
For a little bleeding, use a clean paper towel or cotton gauze to stop the bleeding and spray a little skin care powder;
If the amount of bleeding is large, report to the doctor in time.



How to prevent redness and swelling of the skin around the stoma in winter?
After cleaning and drying the skin around the stoma, lightly spray a layer of liquid dressing to form a colorless skin protective film. The protective film can effectively block the erosion of the surrounding skin by urine and feces, reducing skin redness, infection and other problems.

How to deal with the continuous redness of the stoma skin?
Symptom 1: Continuous redness but no clinical symptoms of infection.
Treatment method: After cleansing and drying the skin, lightly spray a layer of liquid dressing to form a protective film, so that the urine and feces are not easy to infiltrate the skin.

Symptom 2: Continuous redness and symptoms of clinical infection.
Treatment: Clean and dry skin, and then add anti-infection treatment.

How to deal with the damaged skin around the stoma?
Symptom 1: Skin peeling without clinical infection symptoms.
Treatment: After cleaning and drying the skin, lightly spray a layer of liquid dressing to strengthen isolation and protection (could be combined with stoma powder or montmorillonite powder).

Symptom 2: Continuous redness and symptoms of clinical infection.
Treatment: After cleaning the dry skin, add anti-infective treatment.

Daily life

Bathing: Bathing should not be frequent in winter, try to choose a time period with less defecation. The water temperature should not be too high, about 40°C is appropriate, the cleaning action should be gentle, avoid excessive rubbing, and do not use cleaning products containing alkaline ingredients (such as soap, etc.) to avoid damage to the skin's moisturizing function.

Diet: Avoid raw and cold fruits and vegetables. Improper diet in winter can easily cause diarrhea symptoms, so in this season, patients who are prone to diarrhea should not eat lotus mist, strawberries, pears, and melons.

Exercise: Empty the ostomy bag before exercise. If you perform more vigorous exercises, such as preventing the body from excessive flexion and loosening the stoma chassis, you can choose a stoma bag with stronger adhesion and wear a stoma belt at the same time to prevent stoma Chassis leakage.
More information about colostomy bag here!