Stripping Down Baseplate Extenders – Worth The Hype?

Be aware – this post contains photos of sore skin

So any one who follows me on Instagram and Facebook will have seen my sore skin photo caused by my use of the Brava Elastic Tape Extenders. If not here is what happened to my skin after wearing them for three days.

My skin was weeping, extremely dry and bleeding in places, I even had some blisters form. I generally only use these every once in a while when I want some extra support, when swimming for example, and never had this issue from a one off use.

After my review of the Salts Confidence BE I have now swapped to them full time from the previous Salts bag I was using. No longer needing the Brava Protective Sheet under my bag saves a lot of time but I do find that on these bags, when the edges peel up a little the glue dries really hard and can become irritating. So I started using baseplate extenders just to keep it stuck down and solve this problem.

After my skin got in such a state I thought I had to change from my favourite Brava ones. Not only do these make me feel extra secure but they are great when you leak, giving you some vital extra time to get somewhere and clean up. I was pretty gutted and rather grumpy and sore.

So I set about searching out some samples and was recommended Salts, Pelican, Trio and Convatec ones. I have now tried them all so thought I would share my views on them with you.

BRAVA

PROS

• They are comfy to wear
• Very supportive and definitely give you extra confidence when doing more active things like swimming
• Give you extra time when having a leak, I can spot it coming but the extender helps hold the output at bay so it doesn’t end up all over you
• Come in different shapes – Y, curved and straight

CONS

• Difficult to remove, even with lots of adhesive remover
• Skin irritation, obviously this may not happen to everyone but I was very sore from them

Order your samples from the Brava website

TRIO

Pros

• See through, not noticeable when wearing
• Very thin and flexible so you don’t feel them
• Half circle shapes so two go round the bag nicely
• Easy to remove

Cons

• They peel up after a shower but I have found I can take them off easily and replace without affecting the bag. I change my bag after a shower every day anyway, but someone who wears a bag for two or more days may want this information!
• They don’t give any extra protection when you leak, the output seeps straight underneath them

To order your samples check out the Trio website 

PELICAN

Pros

• Petal shaped like the Salts bags which give greater flexibility
• Sample came really quickly, the day after I ordered them. Very impressive
• They felt much securer, almost like the Brava Elastic Taoe

Cons

• More noticeable than the Trio ones, especially with my new coloured bags
• Peeled at the edges a little on occasion but would stick back down

To find out more and order your samples check out the Pelican Healthcare website

CONVATEC

I wish I could say something nicer about these but no. I will never use them again. Sorry!

• 

• 

Pros

• Contain Manuka honey so may be good for those with problem skin

Cons

• Very brown in colour so stood out on my skin very noticeably
• Uncomfortable on the skin
• They seemed to dry up and after only having them on 24 hours, when I went to change my bag they were literally cracking as I pulled them off. Came off in pieces

I was unable to find a link to order samples of these so they may have been discontinued but you are probably better off trying the others anyway!

SALTS

Pros

• Comfortable on the skin
• Contains Aloe so good for problem skin
• Good for if you want to stick down one section of the baseplate as are smaller than other extenders

Cons

• You have to use three rather than two to make them fit around your whole baseplate (and I use Salts bags). This is a bit faffy but I suppose handy if you just want to anchor down one section of your baseplate
• Not the greatest adhesive, they lifted easily

Order your sample from the Salts website

The Verdict

Overall I’ve really enjoyed testing these out, even though some haven’t worked out so well. Everyone’s skin is different and we ostomates know that we all have our personal favourite products. You may like some of those that I didn’t so much on here and that’s ok, we are all different. But if you are looking at trying some of these or need to switch from your current product, I hope this has given you a good idea of what’s out there. All the ostomy companies offer samples so that’s a great place to start with trying them and I have included all the links to their websites so you can order these if you want to give them a go.

For now I’m sticking with the Trio ones on a daily basis and will either use up my Brava ones when I need the extra support as one off uses before have seemed ok. I think if my skin reacted the same way again though, I would probably go for the Pelican ones. Which ones do you use? Let me know in the comments below!