Colostomies: A Brief Review

Aims: To carry out a brief review of the literature on the theme of ostomy, focusing on colostomies.

Study Design: A review study.

Methodology: The papers, in English, Portuguese and Spanish were collected in Scielo database in January 2021. After reading the abstracts, a selection of papers related to the theme was made. Full-text papers that were not available were excluded.

Results: Twenty papers and three books were used. It was observed that ostomized patients show changes in their routines and they also presents body changes, due to the stoma attached to the abdomen. Other problems of these patients were: discomfort with physical appearance, lack of control over noise caused by bowel movements and gases elimination, the possibility of leakage of fecal content, as well as rejection and shame of the new image. Colostomized patients need special care, such as psychological and family supports, to improve their self-esteem, as well as an orientation to colostomy devices use and their periodical hygiene, which should be provided by the multidisciplinary health team. In addition, the team must encourage the patients to avoid social isolation, in order to improve their self-esteem and quality of life.

Conclusion: The use of the stoma leads the ostomized patient to a social isolation, alterations in sexual life and changes in lifestyle, which causes worse quality of life for these patients.