it seems Cymed has again made a surprise change to design and manufacturing of the MicroSkin one piece drainable Ileostomy pouches, ugh.
They’ve taken a very reliable, comfortable, and quiet pouch and made it “cheap.” That’s the best word I could use to define this. They’ve gone from the smooth, relatively quiet pouch plastic to what now sounds like used candy wrappers in your pocket. Very surprising.
To make things worse, the alleged 11″ pouches are now more like 9″ (same Mfg part number) and the end of the pouch that used to be easily inverted to drain then squeegee and roll up for the tie-wrap type of closure has been shortened by over an inch! Now its almost impossible to drain without a mess, and can only roll the closure twice else you’re already encroaching on the pouch. Truly bizarre what they did. They should have stuck with the original, and just created a new Mfg part number for this newer design.
Now when I sit in a movie, any movement and the person next to me keeps looking to see if I’m opening candy bars. Embarassing. Definitely no longer "rustle-free" materials in use! I noticed also that the word "Platinum" is no longer used with the MicroSkin appliances. Hmmm

I also use Cymed MicroSkin one piece drainable Ileostomy bags and hate the changes! I have a small stash of the old bags and hope they have enough complaints about the new bags and go back to the "old design" before I run out. What are the chances?? Its all about the $$....cheaper the bag means more profit, but may also lose customers. Cymed your "new" MicroSkin one piece drainable Ileostomy bags suck!!

Quick update: Six days after my inquiry with Cymed and still no reply... if I don't hear anything by the end of the week, I'll put some pressure on them through social media. 

Another update: I heard back from Cymed's Product Development Engineer / QC Manager and they stated that:

We are happy to work with our customers to resolve any issues they are having and answer any of their questions.

They also asked that I:

... please spread the word to your community members that they can email customerservice@cymed.us if they have any general questions about our products or if they are experiencing issues with their products they can email QC@cymed.us. Email is our preferred method of communication, but customers can also call 800-582-0707 if they don’t have access to email.

I'm hoping that anyone who's experienced problems with their recent changes will get in touch with them.  If you do, please let us know how it goes!

In July of 2016 CyMed changed their wafer and did not tell anyone. Now the last order I got from CyMed they changed the closure but still kept the same item #. You need baby hands to now work the closure. It is impossible to empty and clean without getting crap all over. They have received my last order.

I have been having trouble with my pouches the past year. I have had several defective pouches. The seam along the left side of the bag opens up and I end up with a big mess. Nina has been helpful as far as sending me replacement boxes of pouches and seals whenever I come across a defective one. I can definitely tell the difference in the old product and the newer ones. I have dealt with the noisy crinkling as well as the issues with the thinner material on the wafer. The surprise mess in my pants is the worst. Luckily, I have been at home every time it is has happened. It is always the seam coming apart in the same exact spot so I know it is a manufacturing issue. I had to contact Nina again yesterday about one of the pouches she sent as a replacement. It had the same issue as the others. Nina mentioned that the newest replacements she is sending me will have the film that they used to use in their products. She says it took a long time to acquire this film from the vendor as it is imported from Europe. I hope this is true and that they changed the original product due to not being able to get the product and not because they want to make more money by using lesser quality product. I have had more accidents with my pouches in the past year than I have had the 19 years of having an ileostomy. Has anyone else in here had issues with the seam unsticking?

Welcome to the forums, Tammy. 

I appreciate you sharing your experience. 

I haven't had anything like what you describe happen to me, but I would be interested in knowing if anyone else has noticed that. 

I'm glad that they are working with you to send more samples - hopefully, they will work out better! Please update us after you've tried them! 

I have never had a problem like that ever, the bags I believe are pressure tested. Sounds like a very poor case of quality control. 

Glad to know Cymed is going back to the thicker "old " film. I  change bags every two days since the "new" bags have come out. This is not good for my skin but have change often since bags don't seem to hold up. Love Cymed and hope they get their Q.C. together!! BTW I use a Eakin seal with bag because of uneven skin due to scarring. The tegaderm is great. Some dude did an Ironman wearing a Cymed bag with no leaks. I swim with no problems and sweat here in New Orleans  in the summer and bag holds tight. Please Cymed get it together to stay in business

Posted by: TammyB1022

I have been having trouble with my pouches the past year. I have had several defective pouches. The seam along the left side of the bag opens up and I end up with a big mess. Nina has been helpful as far as sending me replacement boxes of pouches and seals whenever I come across a defective one. I can definitely tell the difference in the old product and the newer ones. I have dealt with the noisy crinkling as well as the issues with the thinner material on the wafer. The surprise mess in my pants is the worst. Luckily, I have been at home every time it is has happened. It is always the seam coming apart in the same exact spot so I know it is a manufacturing issue. I had to contact Nina again yesterday about one of the pouches she sent as a replacement. It had the same issue as the others. Nina mentioned that the newest replacements she is sending me will have the film that they used to use in their products. She says it took a long time to acquire this film from the vendor as it is imported from Europe. I hope this is true and that they changed the original product due to not being able to get the product and not because they want to make more money by using lesser quality product. I have had more accidents with my pouches in the past year than I have had the 19 years of having an ileostomy. Has anyone else in here had issues with the seam unsticking?

Yes. I took photos and sent them to customer service . They thanked me and sent me some more .these had the same defect in the same place . I called them back. I was pretty nice on the phone,  but after the conversation , I switched to another company. 

Please note that I didn't mention names .

The defect was in the seam on the shoulder of the bag. It seems that the heat sealing machine skipped a beat.

Was yours similar ?

I am sure the defect is in the same spot. I have had the same area of the pouch come apart at the seam on at least a dozen pouches so far. I spoke too soon about it always happening at home. Tonight, I was an hour away from home on my way to attend a vegan event, and it happened again. This time it was a little higher up on the side, because I had taped up the area that normally leaks. What a mess! I have always preferred Cymed pouches because I am very active outdoors and they always lasted much longer than others. I really hope they have gone back to the original formula. I have duct taped the entire left side seams on the one I am wearing now out of fear of another explosion tonight.

I'm glad I'm not the only one.  My last shipment of Cymed one-piece pouches were completely different from the product I've used since my surgery 13 years ago. I've used four pouches so far, and two have split on the seam on the left side. Tonight, in particular, was disastrous. I was with my wife at a restaurant when the pouch failed.

The new material is noisy, the end has been shortened too much and, worst of all, the pouches have a design defect with the splitting seam. The best product on the market is now the worst. I'm going to call the company on Monday, but it sounds futile. We need to trust these companies and products, and Cymed has let us down.  I'm terribly disappointed.  

Glad I found this group :)

Evan

Glad you could join us, Evan!

It really it a shame to hear to many of you guys saying that these ones have been so bad for you. I would never have expected a product to change that much - especially not for the worse!

I wanted to follow-up on my adventures with Cymed. They sent me some new pouches last month to replace the defective ones. They seemed to have fixed the seem splitting issues as well as the noise issue. The newest pouches they sent me have a Velcro closure. They also have soft material covering the plastic pouch so that they don't make the crinkling noise. The pouches look similar to the Sensura Mio. I was excited to try them out. They work great for one day and then starting at day 2 they have a new issue. There is an awful smell coming from them. It doesn't matter if I add M9 drops to the pouch. The smell still happens. It does not smell like waste. It is sort of a rotten fish smell. If I continue to use the pouch after the 2nd day, the smell increases. The smell leeches to my clothing and I can also smell it even if I have clothes over it. I notified Nina at Cymed about this current issue and nothing has been done so far. I can't afford to change my pouch everyday and the smell is disgusting. Has anyone else received these updated pouches from them?

Evan, it upsets me that they are still sending out the defective pouches with the splitting seems when they have been made aware that the product is defective. I hope they get their act together and start producing quality product again.

Tammy,

I had this smell from both Cymed and Convatec. Ended up it was the Fish Oil pills/capsules I was taking. 

I switched to a different brand that was known to not cause stinkiness and all good again!

Are you by any chance taking Fish Oil supplements?

Re the new cymeds with the velcro, is there a new part number for these?

Ken

Ugh. Funny, I just got off the phone with Cymed customer service, and they gave me the email of the quality control person.  I'm going to contact her and try to resolve the situation. 

I tried the pouches with the cloth covering in the past. I love the closure, but not the material covering the pouch. I like the way the original pouches dry immediately, and the cloth-like material would tear after a day or two. Didn't have any smell issues though.

Always an adventure. I'll keep you posted when I hear from Cymed.

Evan

Ken, I had the same problem with fish oil supplements. It was horrible :)

I do take fish oil supplements. They don't seem to affect any of the other brands of pouches I use and were never a problem with Cymed before this most recent batch. I will not take them for a couple days and see if the stink improves. Thanks for the suggestion.

Here is picture of the fish oil I use now that stopped the stinkiness.

Generally with different brands, by mid to late second day of wear, the pouch would start to wreak.

With days of switching to this brand, it all stopped (and it's noted that this brand doesn't cause stinkiness for non ostomy patients too).