Patient/caregiver was educated on caring for the ileostomy site and skin around as follows:
- Use a fresh towel wet in warm water to clean the peristomal skin. Make sure the water is not hot, which can lead to a burn injury. If using the same towel to clean the skin around the stoma and the stoma, clean the skin around the stoma first and then the stoma. Cleaning the stoma first and then cleaning the skin around with the same towel could result in contaminating the skin around with stool from the stoma site, which can lead to irritation of this skin. Choosing to clean both the sites with separate fresh towels wet in warm water could be a safer option.
- Gently pat the skin around dry using a clean fresh towel. If the bowels are quiet, you can also allow some time for the skin to breath, by letting it airdry. Make sure the skin around stoma is completely dry and free from any moisture before attaching a fresh bag or skin barrier. Application of fresh bag or skin barrier on moist skin can result in poor attachment, leading to the bag coming loose, contributing to accidents. Early detachment of the ileostomy bag necessitates frequent bag changes contributing to early exhaustion of supplies and economic burden for individuals to order for replacement.
- Individuals could have hair on the abdomen. While trying to remove the adhesive from the skin around the stoma, individuals could wax their hair off resulting in extreme discomfort and skin irritation. So, individuals on ileostomy must practice trimming the hair on the abdomen periodically to avoid this uncomfortable situation. Also, trimming the hair on the abdomen could result in secure attachment of the wafer and bag, which helps prevent accidents.
