One Piece Ostomy Bags

This is a choice for those who have had a bladder or colon diversion surgery, and this is where it comes with a skin barrier or wafer and pouch that are joined as one singular unit. This offers more simplicity than a two piece system, but the one downside to it is that you’ll need to change the entire system when you change out the pouch, so it does involve a little bit more work.

Of course, the best way to determine if this is for you is of course, if you talk to your nurse or healthcare provider during all of this.  you can also figure out whether you need a closed bag or a drainable bag, since this means you’ll need to either discard it, or just emptied and then put back. Appliances in that case can also be one or two piece. The one piece is a bag that’ attached to an adhesive square that’s stuck around the stoma.  The two piece uses a flange that adheres to the skin that can be removed without hurting the skin.

Closed bags are usually used for those with formed stools, while the drainable bag is for those who have loose stool, or fluid stool, such as in the case of an ileostomy. Urobags will have a seal at the bottom to help reduce leakage of those types of bags.

They each have their own benefits and drawbacks, depending on the kind of process and type of device that you feel you need.

You use a drainable one piece appliance when you can easily drain it. Some of these have filters, but the problem is they have varying levels of satisfaction from patients based on how these control the odor and release the flatus. Some prefer the release of the flatus via the bag outlet., but, care must be used so that fecal spillage doesn’t happen, and usually it takes a bit of time and patience when using this method, since you can get rid of the flatus easily, but the removal of the solid faces through the bag can be more difficult, since patients may have to accept the decreased ease of this in order to get an increased ease of removal.  The drainable appliances are usually more costly too. If the patients change them more frequently, that will require more bags, and of course, drainable bags are drained much more often. The drainable options do offer an easier means of cost. 

One piece bags come in many different sizes and styles depending on what the patient wants. There are appliances which have an opening near the top where it drains into a bag, and there might be a resealable opening at the bottom of this, in order to allow for emptying. There also might be an adhesive seal around this in some cases, but some might have a separate seal that the bag attaches to for good results.

One piece ostomy bags are less evident under clothes, so it’s good for patients that have tighter fitting clothes. They offer more confidence in a lot of cases, adhere better to flabby or scarred skin, is more economical since the parts will come together easily, the one-piece systems have less parts so patients that have dexterity problems will have less issues with it, it’s oftentimes easier and better for those who struggle with motor controls, since it can be placed quite easily, and it also is good for swelling abdomens.

This type of system is good for some people, and some will prefer the one piece over the two piece systems when it comes to their type ofostomy bag.