Find the right stoma seal for the shape of you

Choosing the right barrier ring for you is a bit like dating; you have to kiss a few frogs to find yourself the right Prince or Princess.

Funnily, as I was writing this, I got Ed Sheeran’s ‘The Shape of You’ stuck on a loop in my brain. The way my brain works, the lyrics do kind of tie-in with finding the right barrier ring for you.

“We’re going out on our first date

You and me are thrifty, so go all you can eat

Fill up your bag and I fill up a plate.”

Finding the right stoma seal (barrier ring) for you

I remember back in the early days of having a stoma and watching videos of others applying stoma seals and thinking I needed a PhD to apply them to my stoma site.

I came across eakin^® seals when another ostomate handed me a box at a charity cat walk we were taking part in at the time. I was experiencing many leaks during my sleep because the convex wasn’t sticking properly to the side that was indented.

At the time, the eakin Cohesive^® slim was a game changer for me. It also helped that I could rip and wrap these and not damage the function of the seal using this method.

It was life changing for me; they extended my bag wear time from daily changes to changing twice a week, and I was also experiencing a significant improvement with my sleep time and no night time leaks.

What kind of stoma seals are there?

Stoma seals are designed to help by absorbing moisture and to help prevent leaks from happening. It acts as a seal and gives you a protective barrier between your skin and the baseplate.

The seal will help to secure a tight seal/fit between your stoma and baseplate. It will absorb the moisture from loose output and prevent this from touching your peristomal skin (the skin around your stoma site). It’s also handy to help fill on those uneven dips on your skin due to skin folds, crevices or scar tissue around your stoma.

The full eakin Cohesive^® range:

eakin Cohesive^® small – The Extra Protector – it’s a small seal that provides maximum skin protection and absorption capacity.
eakin Cohesive^® large – Greatest Coverage – it offers greater coverage and promotes the healing of large areas of sore and irritated skin. These can be used over healing creams – ideal for anyone with more irritated skin or uneven skin surfaces.
eakin Cohesive^®slims – Your Everyday Seal – it provides everyday skin protection and security from unexpected leaks. Ideal for use as part of a regular stoma routine for added confidence.
eakin Cohesive^® StomaWrap – Your Time Saver – made with the same much-loved ingredients from the eakin Cohesive^®seals range, the eakin Cohesive^® StomaWrap aims to protect peristomal skin.

All of these barrier rings aim to prevent leaks even for those with high fluid content and will help to increase pouch wear time. Ideal for high output stomas, loose or watery output, or urostomy.

I use the eakin Cohesive^® slims and I can’t rave about them enough! They are essential to my routine and they also help to stop my output from breaking down the baseplate material directly around my stoma. My stoma is just under 20mm, so I am now able to mould the barrier ring to my stoma shape. It gives me the confidence to know that my bag won’t leak and that my skin is protected.

You can view the full range here: https://www.pelicanhealthcare.co.uk/product/eakin-cohesive/

The stoma seal decision tree

There is now a stoma seal questionnaire on Pelican’s website that will ask you questions and show you the correct barrier ring for you. I had so much fun using this as it will make sure you get the right barrier ring for you.

You can try that out here: https://www.pelicanhealthcare.co.uk/find-the-right-seal-for-you/

As always

Many thanks for reading

Louise | @crohnsfighting Xx