Vegan/Non-Vegan Ostomy Supplies

12 thoughts on “Vegan/Non-Vegan Ostomy Supplies”

1. Thank you for your valuable list and dedication to your research! I am shocked to discover the products the hospital/ostomy nurse put in me in last year when I received my ileostomy have mammal ingredients. See, I have alpha gal allergy, and I told them I cannot ingest anything mammal, be injected with any mammal, or have anything mammal applied to my skin due to this allergy. I assumed when they put me in the products I’m using that they listened to me and they had done the research to verify the products were animal free, and at the time I was in no shape to verify for myself. I’m just lucky my current products have not caused a serious issue! See, alpha gal is not an “every time” allergy…reactions are unpredictable and occur whenever they want to. And reactions are not always full blown anaphylaxis {though they definitely can be!}…it can be little things, like an itch here or there, body soreness, general overall inflammation.

   I have been using the coloplast sensura mio {stick on bag, not clip} set up, convex, with their protective seal barrier rings, and using their adhesive remover all this time. I have just written to Coloplast with my list of products I regularly use and asked them to verify if they do contain animal ingredients, and if so, what can they suggest for a similar product that may not contain them. In the meantime, I am also researching your list. I was going to try to Convatec moldable wafer simply because I’m tired of cutting {irregular oval stoma here}, but I see on your list it is not safe either. So back to the drawing board. There are very few that don’t contain animal ingredients, it appears. This stinks, because the Coloplast set up has been working for me — it does the job and I have no leaks or anything…I just have trouble getting the cut right sometimes and will have discomfort. I thought a moldable wafer might be easier.

   Anyway, I just wanted to express my appreciation for your work here. Alpha gal is rampantly happening in the USA {it’s from tick bites and the ticks are increasing here}, and I can only assume there will be others in the future who will also find your website an incredibly valuable resource as well!

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   • Hi Michele, I’m glad that the list helps.

     I’ve heard of this tick-related allergy to animal protein, but couldn’t put a name to it. I’m sorry that’s happened, as I’m sure it hasn’t made life easy for you.

     The good news is that from speaking with various companies, I’ve been told that many products will eventually transition to animal-free, or at least, that’s the goal.

     If you come up with any other products that should be added to this list, please let me know and I’ll update this page for others :)

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     • Yes, it is a nightmare. And the doctors/nurses have no clue about what contains mammal. My worst reactions have all been to medications I’ve been given over the years, all which contained mammal. Pharmacists often don’t know either, which meds are safe. It’s crazy. I’m glad to hear the companies are getting away from using animal ingredients. I will let you know what Coloplast tells me about the current products I’m using…maybe they have already transitioned them. Thank you again for your valuable resource!

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2. I was surprised that in your table, Hollister Adapt CeraRings (codes 8805, 8815) are marked as vegan while Hollister Adapt Barrier Rings (7805, 7806, 7815) are marked non-vegan. Actually, these are basically the same products except that the CeraRing versions are infused with ceramide. This is clearly indicated on Hollister’s website, where the regular Adapt Barrier Rings are shown as featuring Flextend M™ skin barrier formulation, while the CeraRing versions are shown as Flextend M™ skin barrier formulation infused with ceramide.

   Thus, these are both made from a version of Hollister’s Flextend material. There seems to be an error in the listings of some third party distributors, who say the Adapt Barrier Rings are made of SoftFlex. I don’t know the source of this error. But it’s clearly an error, as Hollister’s own website states clearly that both types of barrier rings are made of Flextend, not SoftFlex.

   Meanwhile, this raises an interesting question regarding Hollister’s source of ceramide: They describe ceramide as a natural component of skin. So, where does Hollister get the ceramide that they infuse in all their CeraPlus and CeraRing products? Do they synthesize it, or do they derive it from animal skins somehow?

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   • Hi Bob,

     Yes, it appears that the Hollister Adapt Barrier Rings (7805, 7806, 7815) should be marked as vegan as they are using the Flextend formula. And yes, pretty much all of the third party vendors seem to still be listing those as softflex products.

     I’ve corrected this in the list, so I appreciate you bringing it to my attention.

     Regarding the ceramide, I was told by Hollister during my communication with them about the ingredients in their products as was told that “We use an artificial form of Ceramide” and that those products do not contain any form of animal ingredients.

     I hope that helps.

     Eric

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3. When an item says something like “1pc” in the Yes/No field, does that mean you made a mistake filling the info out, or a “Yes, for the 1pc ones” or “don’t know” or something else?
   (ex: search phrase: “coloplast 1pc”)
   Thanks for the great work sofar!

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   • Hey Erik, thanks for catching that! It was a database error caused by semicolons being mistaken as a new row when saving. It’s fixed now :)

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4. Hi, I am a stoma nurse in the UK and interested in different faiths and cultures. Most of the companies in the UK use gelatin in the stoma flanges and products and wondered how you manage with this? I was under the impression that BBraun do use gelatin in their flanges but I see you have them listed as not. Any information you have would be most useful. So far in my research I have found that Coloplast, Convatec, Salts, Hollister and Welland do use porcine derived gealtin in their adhesives.

   Thank you

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   • Hi Lisa, I’ve put together this list to help patients find alternatives, but sometimes there is no way around it, unfortunately. Most brands will have some products that contain gelatin and others that do not.

     Hollister, for example, does not use gelatin in their FormaFlex or Flextend products, but does in their Softflex products. If patient can switch from softflex to one of the others, then they problem is solved – assuming the other products work for them :)

     The good news is that some brands, like Coloplast, have been replacing animal-based ingredients in their products, so I would suggest voicing your concerns with the manufacturers on behalf of your patients so that the manufacturers can make it a priority.

     Best of luck!

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   • Hi Lisa,

     Our Platinum 2 Piece and Cohesive Seal products are vegan friendly.
     See links below to product pages

     https://www.pelicanhealthcare.co.uk/product/2-piece/
     https://www.pelicanhealthcare.co.uk/product/eakin-cohesive-slims/
     https://www.pelicanhealthcare.co.uk/product/eakin-cohesive-seal/

     If you require any further information please contact us on 0800 318 282 or marketing@pelicanhealthcare.co.uk

     Thank you
     Dan

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5. Great information, good job Eric.

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   • I live in the USA and I came across the coolwafer and that would help me cause I work in a very hope place and my wafers won’t stay on how to go about getting a coolwafer

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