What are Pouches, Bags, Appli­ances
One and Two Piece Dis­pos­able Systems?

There are many types of ostomy sup­plies. Fol­low­ing is some infor­ma­tion and links to qual­ity products.

Pouches, Bags, and Appli­ances are names used for the devices attached to the body for the col­lec­tion of stoma drainage. There are many dif­fer­ent dis­cus­sions as to how long they last. From my con­ver­sa­tions with fel­low Osto­m­ates, the length a sys­tem is expected to last is very per­sonal. The length or short­ness of the stoma, and the types of skin can have com­pletely dif­fer­ent out­comes for everyone.

Flange, wafer, bar­rier or face­plate refer to the device that fits around the stoma and pro­tects the peri­s­tomal skin from the efflu­ent com­ing from the stoma.

A One-Piece Ostomy Sys­tem is one in which the flange is attached to the pouch its­self. These kinds of sys­tems are great after surgery as the abdomen is still quite ten­der and not a lot of pres­sure is needed to attach the sys­tem to the body.

One Piece Closed:

With an ileostomy, a one-piece closed sys­tem needs to be replaced when the bag is full which can be in only a few hours, mak­ing them good only for short term use. Or, if you have a colostomy and you irri­gate, a one-piece closed sys­tem would work for you too.

One Piece Open: These drain­able ones have a open­ing on the bot­tom end where you drain the stoma out­put, and use a clip to close the end up between wearing.

A Two-Piece Ostomy Sys­tem is one which uses two sep­a­rate pieces are joined together like Tup­per­ware. The two pieces con­sist of a flange which is attached to the skin, and a pouch which snap together at the faceplate. These sys­tems require a great deal of abdomen strength to securely attach the two pieces together. I would not rec­om­mend them for any­one just out of surgery or who still has pain in that area. The dif­fer­ence with these and the one-piece is that you can use the same flange for a few days with a new bag every­day or when needed.

When the pouch is full the Tupperware-type seal needs to be bro­ken and the bag emp­tied. The dis­ad­van­tage with this is that it does take prac­tice to empty it in such a way that there is no mess made when emp­ty­ing it. The advan­tage is that if the seal is made prop­erly then you do not have to deal with the clip. “I use this sys­tem, clips have got­ten bet­ter over the years, but for me I had enough embar­rass­ing moments from clip fail­ure that I would not risk it.” SP

Two Piece Open These drain­able ones have a open­ing on the bot­tom end where you drain the stoma out­put, and use a clip to close the end up between wearing.

Bar­rier creams, lotions and pow­ders are prod­ucts devel­oped to put on skin to pre­pare the skin for the appli­ca­tion of the bar­rier. They are not to be con­fused with flange, wafer, face plates, or bar­ri­ers them­selves. Also, Deodor­ants are a life saver. They work great.

Ostomy Pro­tec­tors: Pro­tect your ostomy with an “ostomy pro­tec­tor” such as the one linked on the right. US Med­ical Sup­plies have sev­eral sizes available.