Hi Grace,

Generally speaking, you'll want to leave a very slight gap between the stoma and hole to allow for expansion and swelling of the wafer.

Are you using a convex appliance? If so, does your stoma get pushed out when you have the appliance on?

It's OK to have a little skin showing, as most wafers will swell up and cover that area nicely. But this can depend on how much your stoma sticks out and if it "grows" as you pass output. It's better for the hole to be slightly too big than too small.

Measure with circle templates. Lay down for a couple minutes then measure.

you want the smallest measurements as standing up can result in too big of a hole that will leak like crazy especially while sleeping😴it’s not fun to wake up in a wet bed 😵

Also please note, I learned this at the hospital after my surgery from a WOCN (Ostomy nurse) they changed it every other day and always this same way; although they never measured it standing up- only the smallest measurement counts really 🙃