Differences Between Colostomy, Ileostomy, And Urostomy

Ostomy surgery involves rerouting a part of the digestive or urinary tract outside the body after disconnecting it from the rest of that tract. Your doctor will opt to perform this surgery if your digestive or urinary system has a disease or disorder.

Urostomy

To create a urostomy, the surgeon first takes a small piece of the ileum. Then he disconnects ureters from the bladder and connects them with that piece of the ileum. This part of the small intestine is known as a conduit, and it functions much like a bladder. It collects urine from one end and passes it to the other, which sticks out on the belly as the stoma. A urostomy is usually not reversible.

Since a stoma doesn’t have sphincters, it tends to pass out urine whenever your kidneys are at work. You will have no voluntary control over your urine evacuation. That is why it will become necessary to wear an ostomy bag over the stoma to manage that urine evacuation. It is recommended to wear an ostomy pouch with a skin barrier that tends to stick to the peristomal skin for longer durations. It will prevent the leakage of urine underneath the flange. Some people are concerned about their ostomy bags becoming overfilled at night. Such people can benefit from a night drainage system, which consists of a larger bag with an adapter that connects to an ostomy pouch.

Ileostomy

An ileostomy is created by diverting a portion of the small intestine to an opening in the abdomen. This type of ostomy may become necessary for people suffering from inflammatory bowel disease. An ileostomy can be temporary or permanent.

Since an ileostomy produces watery stools, you will have to select a drainable ostomy pouching system. This pouch can be one-piece or two-piece, depending on your requirements or preferences. Because wastes passing out of an ileostomy contain more digestive enzymes, you have to make sure that your ostomy pouch’s skin barrier has formed a leak-proof seal with the peristomal skin. These enzymes can be quite irritating to the abdominal skin. You can consider using extended-wear skin barriers to ensure a long-term seal.

Colostomy

Your surgeon will bring a part of the colon out through a cut in your abdomen during colostomy surgery. This way, there will be a diversion placed on the passage of your fecal wastes. The purpose of doing so is to prevent your fecal wastes from passing through a diseased or removed part of the colon. They, instead, leave your body through the stoma on your abdomen. This ostomy, like ileostomy, can be permanent or temporary.

There are four types of colostomy, depending on the site of the stoma along the colon. These four types are ascending, transverse, descending, and sigmoid colostomy. A stoma more proximal to the ileum produces more liquid stools, whereas a distal stoma will produce solid tools. The type of ostomy pouch you have to wear over your stoma will depend on the type of colostomy.

Each type of ostomy can result in complications or issues. You can overcome these issues or prevent them altogether with the assistance of an ostomy care nurse or a healthcare provider.