Page 6 - OASC February 2021 Newsletter

Ostomates have Skin in the Game!
From skin-tight to skin-flint, so many common expressions involve the word “skin” that you’d think everyone would understand its value and vulnerability. Not so. Ostomies introduce ostomates and their caregivers to a whole new awareness of our largest and heaviest organ. It takes constant vigilance to protect skin around the ostomy from everyday risks of moisture-associated skin damage (MASD) such as from leakage around a flange or bacterial or yeast infection, and from medical adhesive-related skin injury (MARSI) such as skin tears from removing appliances over and over.
Once the skin becomes irritated or broken, it is one tough environment to stabilize.
That’s why hydrocolloids were such a great innovation. First patented in 1967 for stoma care, they later became a key part of wound care. Why? Because they contain gel-forming compounds that absorb the wound fluid and turn into a jelly-like mass, keeping the site moist while providing a barrier to outside bacteria and allowing the body’s own enzymes to help heal wounds. No surprise that today they are an important component of all ostomy flanges and wafers.
What are hydrocolloids?
Bioactive, Interactive, Reactive—these are all words researchers use to describe the transformative properties of hydrocolloids. Fundamentally, they are just what they sound like:
} Hydro — from Greek hudōr, hudros (hydro, “water”) } Colloid — from Ancient Greek κόλλα (kólla, “glue”)
Chemically, they are a compounded mixture of natural or semi-synthetic polymer particles (typically gelatin, pectin, and sodium carboxymethylcellulose) suspended in an adhesive polymer matrix that is pressure sensitive and repels water.
Functionally, they manage moisture by absorbing water to provide a moist, healing environment.
The good news is that research keeps building on these compounds generating new patents with the promise of minimizing and even eliminating problems related to absorbing too much moisture and becoming saturated. n
A friend’s mother just turned 108. When asked the biggest change she’d seen in her lifetime, she replied “antibiotics”.
And what’s one thing that hasn’t changed? “Christmas trees”!
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