About

An ostomy refers to a diversion in the colon or small intestine that allows the stool or urine to pass through an opening created in the abdominal wall. This abdominal opening is commonly known as the stoma. The doctor may opt to perform an ostomy surgery in case of severe malfunctioning of your urinary or digestive tract.

Since your doctor will divert your colon or small intestine to the stoma that passes through the abdominal wall, you are going to need to have a bag attached to that stoma to collect the stool or urine. That bag is most commonly known as the ostomy bag. However, it’s not just any kind of ostomy bag that you may use to manage your ostomy. There is a specific ostomy bag for each type of ostomy. Factors that you need to consider while choosing an ostomy bag may include the type of ostomy, position of your stoma on the abdominal wall, and the shape and size of your stoma.

What is an ostomy bag?

An ostomy bag attaches to your stoma to collect the stool or urine that comes out of it. The reason you are going to need this bag is that the stoma doesn’t have sphincter muscles that could help you control the excretion. Although this bag is going to be outside of your body, you can easily conceal it under the clothes. This way, you can walk around in public and continue with your social interactions without anyone knowing about your ostomy.

As mentioned above, the type of ostomy bag you need to wear depends on the type of ostomy you have. If you have a colostomy, the type of waste you need your bag to collect will be more formed. That is because this type of ostomy involves diversion of the large intestine out into the stoma.

In case you have an ileostomy, the type of bag you need will collect unformed stool because this type of ostomy bypasses the entire colon. Hence, you might need to discard or empty your bag more frequently.

Another type of ostomy is urostomy. This type of ostomy involves connecting of ureters to a part of small intestines, which are diverted to the stoma in the abdominal wall. Hence, the bag required to manage this kind of ostomy has to deal with more frequent stomal outputs.

Different types of ostomy bags

Mainly, there are four types of ostomy bags that ostomates can consider, depending on their type of ostomy. These ostomy bags include One-Piece Ostomy Bags, Two-Piece Ostomy Bags, Drainable Ostomy Bags, and Close-End Ostomy Bags. There are many other types of bags, but you can refer to them as subtypes.

• A one-piece ostomy bag is a pouching system consisting of the bag and the barrier as inseparable objects. It means that you are going to have to remove the barrier and the bag entirely.
• A two-piece ostomy bag is a more convenient pouching system because it doesn’t require you to separate the barrier from the skin in case you need to empty or discard the bag. Hence, you can prevent irritation that usually occurs when you remove the adhesive side of the barrier from the skin. With the barrier attached snugly to the peristomal skin, you can change the bag quickly and easily.
• If you want to reuse the bag after emptying it, you can consider using a drainable ostomy bag. This bag is a good option if you want more accessibility with your ostomy pouching system.
• Many ostomates need to throw away the bags after using them. Using close-end ostomy bags is an appropriate option they can go for. The closed-end ostomy bag can be a part of the one-piece or two-piece ostomy pouching system.

Depending on your needs, you can choose an ostomy bag that can fulfill your requirements. You can get help from your doctor or ostomy care nurse in this regard.