Things You May Need To Know About Ostomy Pouching Systems

After an ostomy surgery, you get different types of pouching systems that you can take home. These pouching systems work for different kinds of stomas. After getting home, you can try each of the systems to figure out what works best for your stoma.

One-piece and two-piece ostomy pouching systems

There are two types of ostomy pouching system from the perspective of pouch attachment with the stoma. These two pouching systems are one-piece and two-piece ostomy pouching system.

Both of the pouching systems consist of a skin barrier and a pouch. Skin barrier is the part which has a layer of adhesive. This part has to be attached to the persitomal skin, the skin around the stoma. Its main purpose is to prevent leakage of stomal output while ensuring protection of the peristomal skin, which is quite susceptible to irritation when exposed to stomal output. The pouch is a bag which collects output from the stoma.

One-piece pouching system

This pouching system has a skin barrier which is permanently attached with the bag. It means that if you are going to have to remove the bag, you are going to have to detach the barrier from the skin. This pouching system is very simple and very easy to apply; i.e. just peel the protective cover from the skin barrier and attach it with the persitomal skin. The best thing about this pouching system is that it lies flatter than other types of pouches, meaning that you can conceal the pouch more easily.

Two-piece pouching system

A two-piece pouching system is more versatile because it has a pouch and a barrier as two different entities. These two parts are connected together by the means of a plastic ring, or flange. The major advantage of this pouching system is that you don’t need to remove the barrier in order to empty or replace the bag. Thus, it is the perfect pouching system if you need to change the bag more frequently than the barrier.

Drainable and closed ostomy pouches

From the perspective of bag usability, there are two types of pouches; i.e. drainable and closed ostomy pouches. Each of these pouches has its own set of advantages.

Drainable ostomy pouches

These pouches have a clamp or an integrated closure that allows you to empty the bag when it is filled. But make sure that you are not waiting for the bag to be completely filled. The best practice is to empty the bag when one-third of it is filled. These bags are typically needed in case of urostomy.

Closed pouches

These bags need to be disposed rather than emptied. You can use these pouches when your stomal output is not quite frequent. All you have to do is to remove the bag one it is filled and throw it away.