#Coloplast #Brava Elastic Barrier Strip product review

Let me begin by saying that I did not receive monetary or any other type of compensation for my review of this product. I was provided a sample of the Coloplast Brava elastic barrier strip because I use several of their other products. I was not asked to give an opinion on the product - but I love it so much I wanted to!

I have been having issues with wear time from my appliance - not because my choice of appliance is poor or the product is faulty - but because of the current state of my abdomen. After 4 abdominal surgeries in quick succession, my skin wasn't exactly left in great shape. It wasn't strong enough to hold staples after the fourth surgery and I had to be left open and allowed to heal from the inside out using wet/dry dressing and montgomery straps to hold things tight. A picture to give you an idea of what that looks like:



It is essentially like lacing up your shoes. On either side of the wound there is an adhesive "panel" that has holes on one side. The holes from either side line up along the wound and you lace it up - pulling it as tight as you can to hold the tissue together and help the healing process. To change the dressing you only have to unlace and bend the panels back - not remove them every time.

Once I was done with the montgomery straps and my wound was healed over with no open areas I was left with a divet - for lack of a better term - running right down the middle of my belly, from just below my sternum to my pubic bone. This photo sort of gives an idea of what it is like though it isn't the best angle or lighting.



You can see how the edge of my ostomy pouch sort of "rolls" over the edge and goes down into the divet. Well, the barrier - which is what that part is called - isn't all that flexible. I believe it is made of silicone and it is pliable to an extent - but when you are trying to force something to contour to an area like this, it just doesn't want to. I would be able to get it to stick for a bit as long as I didn't do a lot of bending. Or twisting. Or reaching. Or moving around in my sleep.

So, I would try to tape it down. I have ALL KINDS OF TAPE from the hospital. Latex free. Water proof. Paper. Foam. Seriously, every kind. I tried them all, they all worked to an extent but none well enough to really make me feel THAT secure that the edge wasn't going to lift up and cause me an accident. Not only that, but with the addition of the tape my skin started to have reactions. What it was reacting to I am not really sure - I think it was just the fact of having another thing on my skin. So, my skin would start to weep (get wet) and of course then the tape wouldn't stick. So, I would use an ostomy belt. I also use the ostomy belt when I run for added support FYI. Anyway, the belt was great but it caused the top and bottom edges to begin to raise up because it put so much pressure on the sides. I was in a losing battle it seemed.

Of course my wound/ostomy nurses and surgeon were in on everything I was trying and share their ideas, tips and tricks as well. It got to the point that I was willing to suffer through the weepy, red, irritated skin if it meant not being worried about potentially having an accident.

Then....one day in the mail came the Brava Elastic Barrier Strips. I didn't read over the literature thoroughly at first. I took a look at the product and had a pre-conceived notion of what it was and thought I didn't really have a use for it at the time. For some reason I thought it went UNDER the skin barrier...??? Why? I don't know. One night as I was organizing my in home wound/ostomy clinic (that's supposed to be funny) I opened the product and read through the literature. I immediately took a picture of it and sent it to my wound/ostomy nurse and told her I was giving it a go!



As you can see it is a 1/2 moon shape that fits nicely around one side of a round faceplate, skin barrier - whatever you call the part of your ostomy appliance that adheres to your skin. We all call it something different it seems LOL! You can apply it any which way you want...along the left side, right side. Around the top or bottom. You can use 2 to have coverage all the way around.

I started off just using one on the side of the divet to try and prevent the edge from coming up. I only got 2 in the trial sample so I didn't to use them at the same time and then not have ANY if I ended up liking them!



So there I am with my pouch on and the barrier strip on the edge of the divet.

Here are the two pictures side by side so you can hopefully see what the difference is:



You can see the barrier strip covers part of the skin barrier and then goes on to adhere to my skin. It is so flexible that I can manipulate it into the little crevice/dip/divet and get a really good seal. It truly does help prevent the edge of my skin barrier from coming up. I typically only one strip on that side of the skin barrier - however I have worn 2 to cover the entire circumference of the skin barrier when I am looking to get super extended wear time.

The product is very easy on my extremely sensitive skin. It is stretchy; so when I twist, bend, sleep, stretch, whatever it moves with me and doesn't pull at my skin at all. It is very forgiving. So far I haven't had an negative effect from the materials - it hasn't made me itch, made my skin weep or any of the host of other issues I have had with various tapes in the same area.

I think these will be another alternative to the "sure seal" products that provide added security to the skin barrier for athletic activities and swimming. I had a severe skin reaction to other products that are produced for that purpose and I am happy that I now have the Brava strips to use instead.

20 strips come in a box and you should be able to order them from any supplier that carries Coloplast products. Of course, you'll want to check with your individual insurance company regarding your coverage for this specific item. You can also contact Coloplast directly and request samples of this as well as their other ostomy products. I also use their strip paste, moldable ring, ostomy belt and Assura 1-piece opaque convex drainable easi-close with filter. Click any of those links to go to their website and you should be able to find a spot to request samples.

I hope this review was helpful and if you have any specific questions please feel free to leave a comment here or over on my facebook page Detoured Fashion.

Please remember, we are all different and my experience with a product may be completely different from your experience. That is why it is so great that companies provide samples so that you can give things a try before committing to ordering an entire box of something. IF you have ordered an entire box of something and it no longer suits your ostomy needs - would you consider donating it to one of my favorite non-profits so that it can be distributed to those who may not be able to afford the supplies that they need? You can contact Girls with Guts or email Charis@girls-with-guts.org for more information.

Be awesome and always find your silver lining!

Give it a rest

I'm back to battling my body. I have/had been having drainage issues relating to my original surgery and the perineal wound. I began keeping a health journal to record all things surrounding the episodes of drainage. It culminated in a weekend of extreme pain - to the point I didn't even want to walk - and a surgeon ordered MRI. The MRI showed a large pocket of fluid sitting in my pelvis where my anus used to be extending up above my pelvic floor muscles.

My surgeon fit me in the surgery schedule for the day after the results came back and I scrambled to get everything arranged in order to spend at least 2 days in the hospital. Things can never go easy for me and even with the assistance of anesthesia I ended up being poked 6 times trying to get an IV started, eventually ending up with a pediatric anesthesiologist who started a line with the teensiest tiniest gauge needle - just to get me in the OR and asleep. Once I was under they started a larger gauge IV in another location.

What we have here is L-R and top-bottom poke sites on left arm (he went in the AC 3 times there), using the ultrasound on the right AC, the aftermath of sticking the right AC and the pediatric IV in a place I absolutely HATE.

Everything went well and I came out with two IVs and a wound vac to aid in healing. She decided to keep me overnight to control my pain better - and honestly I think to keep a closer eye on me since I don't have the best track record when it comes to post-op complications.

Other random pictures from that 36 hours:

Same ordering - presents waiting for me in the holding area, modeling my new friend the wound vac, HUGE socks and getting the good stuff in IV #2.

At posting I am almost 1 week post-op and healing well. The wound is down to 3.5cm deep and I am pretty sure she told me when I came out of surgery it was a good 5-6cm deep - making progress! Still sporting the wound vac and probably will be for at least another week plus some days. Whatever it takes to make this thing heal correctly this time, I'll do it. I want to get back to doing the things I want to do without limitations.

My body really HATES surgery and has decided to SHOW me how much it hates it. I've got a mouth full of ulcers (stress) and my skin is broken out in a hot mess around my stoma (stress). This is what I look like right now...when I change my ostomy appliance I TRY to let my skin take a break (sometimes I don't have the time for all that!). On this day I had the time and figured I would do a GOOD job of taking a break and coated my skin with zinc oxide - the same thing you might put on your nose to prevent sunburn. You can see the tubing from my wound vac running across me and there is a little tiny dark spot up and to the right of my stoma (the rosey looking dot) - THAT people is my belly button. Or, what is left of it :)