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Concealing an Ostomy Bag | Ask Laura

Laura Cox, LPC
Laura Cox, LPC
Ostomy Lifestyle Specialist | Shield HealthCare
01/13/18  10:30 AM PST
Concealing an Ostomy Bag
Ask Laura

Dear Laura, I wear a two piece ostomy bag. I need help with concealing an ostomy bag. When I move around my shirt hikes up and the tip of the bag peeks out from under my shirt. If I could fold the tip up it would not show but I can’t figure out a fastener that wouldn’t rub the bag and puncture it. It has to be something that lays flat and whatever holds the nozzle up can’t hang lower than the bag nozzle does.

 From,

Tom

Hi Tom,

I have a few suggestions that may help! First, I’m wondering if a Stealth Belt would be a good option for you. This is a black belt into which you can conveniently tuck your ostomy bag. It requires you to turn your ostomy pouch 45 degrees, or completely horizontal, but this shouldn’t be an issue since you have a two piece pouching system! I think this may be a great solution.

Have you tried simply tucking your pouch in to your pants? I know sometimes this can obstruct flow of output into the pouch, but I’ve found it to work okay for me! It depends on the person and where the ostomy is placed!

Another option is to get a pouch cover. This won’t completely eliminate your problem, but instead of the nozzle hanging down, it will be a piece of cloth.

Some manufacturers utilize Velcro to shorten the pouch. You could try one of their products or purchase some Velcro to use for your pouch.

Please let me know if you have any other questions!

Thanks,

Laura

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Dear Laura, I wear a two piece ostomy bag. I need help with concealing an ostomy bag. When I move around my shirt hikes up and the tip of the bag peeks out from under my shirt.
Tom
Hi Tom, I have a few suggestions that may help!
 
First, I'm wondering if a stealth belt would be a good option for you. This is a black belt that you can conveniently tuck your pouch...


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Comments

3 Comments

  1. Martha H.
    Posted February 8, 2018 at 1:53 pm PST

    Hi Tom,
    My husband wears an ostomy bag and i always try to make things easier for him, so I’m always looking for ideas. We’ve purchased all the belt, stealth, covers you name it we have them in a drawer but I’m not saying they won’t work for you. But for him we found that in Target maternity section they have a pregnancy belly band in 3 colors and different sizes that Covers your whole bag and tummy. It sounds funny but it takes a little getting use to. You would wear it like one of those sauna sweat belts, it’s stretchable and moves with your body. He wears it mostly when he gets dressed up and it muffles some of the noise too. Other times he just gets longer t-shirts or tucks the tip of his bag in his pants. I hope this helps.

  2. Michelle
    Posted March 30, 2018 at 9:31 am PDT

    Hi, I use Ostomy underwear. You tuck the whole bag in to the underwear which has a pouch inside to hold the bag. Hides the bag well.

  3. Richard
    Posted May 17, 2019 at 9:51 pm PDT

    Like Martha says, many of these products or gimmicky and either impractical or uncomfortable or both. I have not tried the underwear–pricey per pair compared to FOL or Hanes briefs–but when I have to wear a jacket with my shirt tucked in and pants, then I have found the unisex wraps from Ostomysecrets (part of ConvaTec) to work OK. I would not wear one everyday, and the pouch holder and elasticity do reduce flow, but these are OK a few hours (4 or so) at a time. More info on this product: https://www.ostomysecrets.com/unisex-wraps The maternity belly bands look like they would be similar but without the pouch holder and perhaps thus would restrict flow less; I might try one.

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