Stomydo is an organization that creates equipment for daily stoma care. They asked me to try out the ostomy shower that they developed. In this article I’ll tell you about all the pros and cons. Warning: at the end of the article my ‘naked ostomy’ is depicted, just so you know!

Ostomy shower

An ostomy shower is a helpful tool that you can use in your daily routine when taking care of your ostomy. “With the Stomydo® ostomy shower you can easily clean and tend to your stoma at you own sink. A fresh feeling, and quicker than taking an actual shower. Just use water to completely cleanse the ostomy, to stimulate the skin around your stoma and to avoid any skin problems and irritation.”

First impression

When I read this description, I immediately got excited. I don’t always have the energy to get in the shower after a long day. Now that I’ve got a stoma, I don’t really have a choice, even when I’m exhausted. Water and gauzes just don’t do the trick, I wouldn’t feel clean enough after using them. So all in all, I was really excited to try the ostomy shower.

What’s in the box

The ostomy shower comes with a complete package, including the ostomy shower (obviously), but also a travel bag, a toolkit to connect Stomydo® to your tap, and a little towel. There’s also an instruction and a leaflet. For my tap I had to request an extra adapter to make it fit. It’s good to know that for such questions you can easily contact Stomydo®.

Using Stomydo®

Using Stomydo® is easy and quick. Just connect it to your tap and adjust the water to the right temperature. After that, I removed the stoma pouch from my stomach, remove most of the discharge and put the Stomydo® on my ostomy. I open the tap and keep the water running for a few minutes. It feels very pleasant, as the jet is very soft. Once I’m ready, I disconnect the ostomy shower and leave it to dry for a moment. Putting it away is easy as it comes with a handy travelbag.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Very handy when you don’t have the energy to take a shower, but want to freshen up either way
• Pleasant on the skin
• Easy to store in the bag that comes with the Stomydo®
• Skin irritation and itching become less
• Looking after my ostomy this way takes little time
• Customer care is great, Stomydo® thinks along with any issue
• Thanks to the instruction and installation kit I was able to connect the tap myself, despite my two left hands
• Stomydo® has some very handy instruction videos on their website
• I think Stomydo® would be great to take with you on holiday, and comes in handy when you need to change your ostomy pouch more often due to hot weather

Cons:

• My pretty design tap is now a little bit less design
• The ostomy shower is pretty pricey, I’m not sure if everyone would be able to afford this. I think I understood that Stomydo® wants to see if they can give you a hand with your health insurance, to see if they can compensate some of the price, so that might be an option
• It’s still a pretty large device, and with good reason. But it takes up a fair bit of space in your suitcase when you’re travelling.

In conclusion

I think I made it quite clear that I’m really satisfied with Stomydo®. I would certainly recommend it to people who are able to afford it. In my opinion, it’s definitely worth its price, as it’s not something you only use once. I for one am planning to use it for a very long time, and I’m curious to find out what effect it will have on my skin. For now, there’s less itching, and also the scabs caused by the appliances disappeared.