Urostomy surgery results in a stoma in the abdomen to open an alternate urinary pathway that the surgeon creates after removing the bladder. The stoma is the point from where the urine leaves the body. Because a stoma doesn’t have any sphincters to allow you to control when to pass out urine, you are going to have to wear an ostomy bag over it to manage your urine evacuations.

With having to wear an ostomy bag the entire time, you are going to have to make sure that the skin around your stoma remains healthy and free of any complications. The good thing is that you don’t have to do anything extraordinary to take care of your peristomal skin. Following general instructions regarding the pouch use and skincare should help you prevent most of the skin complications. You will need medical attention when there are complications you cannot control.

The most crucial part of a urostomy care regimen is to empty your pouch before it is full. You will need to empty the pouch when it is one-third to half full. A too-full bag can cause strain on your skin barrier, raising the risk of ostomy appliance coming off the skin. There are markings on urostomy pouches to let you know when to empty those.

Here is a general guideline regarding how to empty your urostomy pouch.

- Sit on the toilet to empty the pouch.

- Make sure that the opening on the pouch is pointed into the toilet. The tip of the drainage spout should not touch the toilet.

- There will be a clamp with the spout to keep the pouch closed. Open this clamp. It will allow urine to flow out of the pouch.

- After the pouch is empty, close the clamp.

- Wash your hands thoroughly.

You will learn about how to change your pouch during your hospital stay. Your ostomy care nurse will run you through the entire process. Generally, you will need to change your pouch every 3-4 days. The goal is to prevent urine from coming in contact with the skin underneath the skin barrier. You will not want the stoma to pass out urine while changing the pouch. The best way to prevent such a situation is to change the urostomy pouch in the morning before you eat or drink anything.

Here is how you can change your urostomy pouch.

- Clean your hands by washing them thoroughly.

- Remove the old pouch. You will need to do it by pressing the skin around the stoma and, at the same time, pulling the skin barrier. Make sure that you are doing it gently to avoid any injury to the skin.

- Clean your stoma. You may want to hold gauze over the stoma to prevent the leakage of urine while you clean it. This way, you will be able to keep the skin area dry.

- Clean the skin around the stoma using warm water. If you want to use soap, make sure that it doesn’t contain any perfumes or oils.

- Place the skin barrier of the new ostomy appliance over the stoma in a way that its hole allows the stoma to open into the pouch. Use your fingers to work around the surface of the skin barrier to ensure its adhesion.

If you have specific requirements regarding the pouch change, you may want to discuss them with your ostomy care nurse or doctor.