Dr. Shennon has been a urostomate since 1980 and from that time has suffered from many peristomal skin problems such as inflammation and red raw skin around the stoma caused by seepage from his urostomy appliance. Through his experience, he has found relief from for his skin irritations by using a common antibacterial gel hand sanitizer.
When used on the skin around the stoma, these antibacterial gels will sterilize the skin and promote healthier peristomal skin. According to the packaging for this particular gel, it states that it “kills over 99.99% of harmful germs" as well as containing skin conditioners to help keep hands, not to mention peristomal skin, soft.
Per Dr. Shennon, another big advantage to using gel hand sanitizers is that his peristomal skin has never looked better. He also has reported that the wearing time of his urostomy appliances has increased by a full day longer than before using the antibacterial gel. Cleaning and sterilizing the peristomal skin has also led to fewer urinary tract infections according to Dr Shennon.
In order to best clean the peristomal skin, Dr Shennon removes his urostomy appliance while in the shower and thoroughly cleans the skin with soap and water. While in the shower, apply the antibacterial gel to the skin, wait 30 seconds, and then rinse off. The gel will rinse off easily and leave the skin clean and sterile. Towel dry the rest of the body and you are ready to apply a clean urinary appliance.
We would love to hear more tips and comments from our readers. Please feel free to comment with your skin therapy tips and more!
