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What is Stoma? HERE’s what you should know about this surgery
Stoma surgery is the opening in the abdomen that is done to divert the waste out of our body. It can be permanent or temporary depending on the damage of the organs. So, here’s everything you should know about it.
Stoma surgery is the opening in the abdomen which is connected to either our digestive or urinary system. It allows the waste to be diverted out of our body. It’s a small, pinkish, circular piece of flesh which is needed when bowels or bladder needs to be healed or removed.
However, there are two terms used to define- ostomy and stoma. But there is a difference in the meaning of the words. Ostomy is the actual opening in the abdomen and stoma is the end of the intestine that’s sewn into the ostomy. To create a stoma, the doctor will pull the parts of the small and large intestine onto the surface of your skin and sew it onto an opening in your abdomen.
What you should know about stoma:
What are the different types?
There are different types of stoma depending on the procedure used to create it:
Colostomy: Here, the stoma is created with the part of your colon to bypass the rectum.
Urostomy: In this surgery, a pouch is created using the small intestine which is connected to ureters. This will be done so that urine will drain outside of the body without passing through the bladder.
Ileostomy: This stoma is created using the small intestine so that waste can bypass the colon and rectum.
Methods for stoma:
End ostomy- In this process, the cut end of the intestine is pulled through the ostomy and sewn to the opening.
Loop ostomy- A loop of the intestine is pulled through the opening and then cut. Both ends are attached to the ostomy. One opening is for mucus and the other one for faeces.
Is it permanent?
The stoma you are having depends on the damage. If your bowels or bladder is not permanently damaged then the stoma will be temporary and it can be reversible. This stoma will be there just to let your organs heal for some time. Then the surgery to reverse the stoma will usually be done within three months to one year from the original surgery.
