How a Skin Barrier With a pH Buffer Can Help Keep the Skin Around Your Stoma Healthy

To ensure that your ostomy skin barrier fits comfortably and securely, it’s important to keep the skin around your stoma healthy. Read about how a skin barrier designed with a pH buffer can help maintain the slightly acidic level of healthy skin and help decrease the skin-damaging effects of stoma fluid leakage.1

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Learn how pH buffering helps maintain an environment that is friendly for the skin, but unfriendly to digestive enzymes.

Why skin is health important to people with ostomies?  

Both stoma output (i.e., urine or faeces) and the removal of skin barriers and can damage the skin around the stoma.3-5 In fact, around 7 in 10 people with ostomies experience peristomal skin complications (PSCs) which can result in broken weeping skin, ulcerations, bleeding, and/or pain.6-9 A person with a PSC changes their pouch more frequently, uses more ostomy accessory products, and is more likely to be admitted to the hospital for specialist care – all of which result in increased costs.10,11 The impact that PSCs have on health-related quality of life cannot be overstated.12-15 They are a serious problem that can affect a person’s mental, physical, and financial wellbeing. 
 
What keeps skin healthy 

The health of our skin depends on multiple factors, such as age, genetics, skin moisture, and maintaining the skin’s acidic mantle. The acid mantle is an acidic film on the skin’s surface that acts as a protective barrier. All these factors help preserve the skin’s natural microflora – or pH balance – and reduce the risk of bacterial and yeast skin infections.2 However, if this pH balance is disrupted, the skin may lose its protective abilities and become prone to damage and infection.  

How an ostomy skin barrier can help improve peristomal skin health 

A skin barrier designed with pH buffering will resist changes to pH levels when challenged. Dansac NovaLife TRE™ skin barriers feature this technology. The pH balancing capabilities of the TRE™ barrier help protect the skin by maintaining the natural pH level of the skin. 

 

 

A study showing the impact of an innovative pH-buffering ostomy skin barrier.16 

A research study published in 2020 evaluated the impact of clinicians using a pH buffering skin barrier – the NovaLife TRE™ skin barrier – with 975 patients who had ostomies.  

The study results demonstrated decreases in DET (a measure of the severity of PSCs) and peristomal skin pain scores. This implies that participants’ skin health improved after using the TRE™ pH-buffering barrier. In addition, the results showed that the people with the worst skin problems before using the product saw the most improvement.  

The study also showed that patients used substantially fewer ostomy products when the pH-buffering barrier was in place: 

  • 55% fewer patients changed their stoma pouch more than once per day
  • 34% more patients were able to wear their pouch for 2 days or longer 
  • The percentage of patients not using any ostomy accessory products increased from 24.6% to 34.5% 

In addition, the study reported high levels of product satisfaction in over 86% of clinicians who rated the four attributes of the TRE™ pH-buffering barrier’s design: 

  • ease of use 
  • adherence to peristomal skin 
  • ease of removal 
  • the ability to absorb moisture 

NovaLife TRE™ skin barriers – a pH-buffering solution to the problem of PSCs 

This research suggests that the TRE™ pH-buffering barrier provides people with ostomies with quality of life and cost benefits. Study participants used less topical peristomal skin medication and fewer ostomy accessories, and increased their barrier wear time. And most importantly, they experienced improved peristomal skin health and less pain, which resulted in improved health-related quality of life and wellbeing. 

To learn more about this study on the NovaLife TRE™ skin barrier, watch this video. 

 

1. Dansac Technical report TR-00401. Competitive Product Testing - Sensura Mio, Salts Confidence BE, Dansac TRE - Fluid Absorption Capacity, Surface pH & pH Buffer Capacity. Data on file. 

2. Voegeli D, et al. 2020. Factors influencing the incidence of peristomal skin complications: Evidence from a multinational survey on living with a stoma. Gastrointestinal Nursing. 18(Sup4):S31-S38. 

3. Colwell JC, Pittman J, Raizman R, Salvadalena G. A randomized controlled trial determining variances in ostomy skin conditions and the economic impact (ADVOCATE trial). J Wound Ostomy Continence Nurs. 2018;45(1):37-42. 

4. Voegeli D, Karlsmark T, Eddes EH, et al. Factors influencing the incidence of peristomal skin complications: evidence from a multinational survey on living with a stoma. Gastrointestl Nurs. 2020;18(Sup4):S31-S38. 

5. Colwell JC, McNichol L, Boarini J. North America wound, ostomy, and continence and enterostomal therapy nurses current ostomy care practice related to peristomal skin issues. J Wound Ostomy Continence Nurs. 2017;44(3):257-261. 

6. Wilson M. Incontinence-associated dermatitis from a urinary incontinence perspective. Br J Nurs. 2018;27(9):S4-S17 

7. Andersen PH, Bucher AP, Saeed I, Lee PC, Davis JA, Maibach HI. Faecal enzymes: in vivo human skin irritation. Contact Dermatitis. 1994;30(3):152-158. 

8. Metcalf C. Managing moisture-associated skin damage in stoma care. Br J Nurs. 2018;27(22):S6- S14. 

9. Taneja C, Netsch D, Rolstad BS, Inglese G, Eaves D, Oster G. Risk and economic burden of peristomal skin complications following ostomy surgery. J Wound Ostomy Continence Nurs. 2019. 

10. Meisner S, Lehur PA, Moran B, Martins L, Jemec GB. Peristomal skin complications are common, expensive, and difficult to manage: a population based cost modeling study. PloS One. 2012;7(5):e37813. 

11. Hubbard G, Taylor C, Beeken B, et al. Research priorities about stoma-related quality of life from the perspective of people with a stoma: a pilot survey. Health Expect. 2017;20(6):1421-1427. 

12. Kini SP, DeLong LK, Veledar E, McKenzie-Brown AM, Schaufele M, Chen SC. The impact of pruritus on quality of life: the skin equivalent of pain. Arch Dermatol. 2011;147(10):1153-1156. 

13. Goldstine J, van Hees R, van de Vorst D, Skountrianos G, Nichols T. Factors influencing health- related quality of life of those in the Netherlands living with an ostomy. Br J Nurs. 2019;28(22):S10-S17. 

14. Nichols T. Health utility, social interactivity, and peristomal skin status: a cross-sectional study. J Wound Ostomy Continence Nurs. 2018;45(5):438-443. 

15. S. Summa S, et al. 2021. A litmus test for innovation: A real-world evaluation of a pH-buffering ostomy barrier. World Council of Enterostomal Therapists Journal. 41 3:16-21 

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