After you’ve recovered from stoma surgery, you may be concerned about what you can wear. Wearing fairly loose clothing for the first couple of weeks is advisable because your stomach may still feel sore and tender. It shouldn’t take long for this to resolve though and you should be able to wear your usual clothes.

Wearing tight-fitting clothes will not affect your stoma. It just might be  be necessary to adjust the waistline on your clothes slightly, depending where on your stomach your stoma sits.

Clothing hints for men with a stoma

  • Trousers with waistband pleats can give you more room across the stoma pouch area, allowing it to expand as your pouch fills. These types of trousers are available in most stores.
  • Stretchable denim jeans are great!
  • If your stoma sits right on you belt line, a belt can sometimes cause a problem. Braces may suit better.
  • Swimming boxers with a sun shirt help to keep your condition discrete

Clothing hints for women with a stoma

  • Nice long flowy skirts work very well with a stoma
  • Leggings under oversized shirts are great and very comfortable.
  • Patterned swimwear, or swimwear with skirt may enhance discretion
  • Tight-fitting clothes and denim can still be worn … try to look for stretch denim and other stretch fabrics
  • You may like to consider wearing a “boob tube” style garment around your waist for added support and discretion. The Stoma Appliance Scheme offers a waistband to registered participants. Some outlets such as Cotton On also have suitable light weight garments occasionally.

the important thing to remember is that having a stoma should not stop you from living life to the fullest. Most people who have ostomy surgery should be able to return to normal activities following their surgery. When and how long this will take should be discussed with the guidance of your clinical team.

For those persons wishing to return to light exercise after their surgery, there are a number of online commerce sites offer a range of active and intimate wear to ostomates.

We suggest:

Ostomate active – for active wear, bag covers, belts

Knightwear Ostomy Underwear  – for undergarments and intimate wear.

SIIl Ostomy Line  – a Spain based company selling ostomate swimwear and underwear

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