A Skin Stripping Challenge Comparison of Infused Ostomy Skin Barriers

Introduction: A complication of living with a stoma is loss of peristomal skin integrity. Peristomal skin is subject to factors such as skin stripping which can deplete the stratum corneum with repeated application and removal of the adhesive ostomy skin barrier. This in turn can deteriorate skin integrity; the extent of which may be measured as transepidermal water loss (TEWL)¹. The ostomy product market has seen the development of infused ostomy skin barriers; infused with naturally occurring substances such as ceramides, aloe, or Manuka honey. Ceramides are naturally occurring lipids found in human skin, aloe is a plant derivative, while Manuka honey is produced by bees from Manuka tree flowers.

Aim: To better understand the interaction between the skin of healthy volunteers and infused skin barriers when challenged by skin stripping.

Methods: Infused ostomy skin barriers were applied to a panel of volunteers once daily and removed 24 hours later, for a five day period. TEWL was measured 30 minutes post removal. Statistical analysis of the data consisted of paired comparison between the ceramide and aloe skin barriers, and ceramide and Manuka honey barriers.

Results: At day 1, no statistically significant differences were noted between barriers. For days 2 through 5 the ceramide skin barriers demonstrated statistically significantly less TEWL than both the aloe and Manuka honey skin barriers.

Conclusions: The data suggests that a ceramide infused skin barrier may reduce the effects of skin stripping when compared with other infused barriers.