My stoma nurse came to visit today and introduced me to an ostomy bag liner that she suggested I try: The Colo-Majic ostomy pouch liner.

I had seen this product before, but never looked into reviews or anything, so I was pretty much new to the entire thing when she showed me how they work.

Basically, with a standard, drainable pouch, you empty your stoma’s output through the bottom of the pouch and then change that appliance between 3-7 days or so. With liners, they collect the stool and you simply remove them from your pouch and replace it with a new liner.  Sounds pretty easy and convenient – in writing at least.

The product samples I have are from Colo-Majic.  I believe they are the first company to come out with liners.  I’ve seen a few others, which I’ll be (hopefully) testing once I get their samples in.

The Colo-Majic products are the most expensive and the most well-known, so I’d like to shop around before committing to a box.

Here’s what they look like:

With this particular liner, you’re supposed to poke pinholes in a designated spot to allow gas to escape, and if your pouch has a filter, the gas will leave the pouch from there and the idea is that the filter stays dry.

Sounds great, but my experience so far with the first two liners is that I should probably not poke those holes and let the gas collect and then “burp” the pouch, as I’ve noticed leaking from the liner into the bag, despite the fact that my output isn’t very liquid.

Another problem I’ve encountered, and this could be because I don’t have a good workflow figured out yet, is that while I’m removing one liner and inserting another, my stoma is exposed and will happily spew forth whatever it desires – whether I want it to or not.

Fortunately, my toilet caught the output on my last attempt and my pants didn’t, but it’s a great lesson to learn before taking these liners out into public, where an accident could be a bit of a nightmare to deal with.

So for now, I’ll be using the bags without the pinholes, and I’ll try to find a better way to change the liner without allowing for too much play time for my stoma… perhaps preloading another clean pouch with a liner and quickly swapping it when it’s time to empty the pouch attached to me might work… but it means carrying more supplies.

I’ll be back with an update after I experiment a bit further.  If you’ve had any experience with ostomy pouch liners, please feel free to share your thoughts or techniques on how to effectively use them.