What started as a private health battle became a public journey of self-love and resilience, all while learning to rock an ostomy bag Tereza Shkurtaj is a writer-reporter at PEOPLE. She has been ...

Call your doctor if your stoma turns pale, dry, or changes colors, like dark red or purple. Go to the emergency room if your stoma has extreme color changes, like very pale or dark, as it can mean ...

Dating can feel daunting at the best of times, but imagine the difficulties faced by those with an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The lifelong ...

Growing up with a chronic illness, Sara Levitt was forced to undergo emergency colon surgery that left her with an ostomy bag. At age 13, Levitt, from Montreal, Canada, thought her life was over and ...

Numerous cases involving different types of peristomal skin dermatitis have been documented in the literature. Stevenson described seven patients who presented with peristomal rashes. [10] Three of ...

An ostomy pouch is a collection system you wear on your body following a lifesaving ostomy surgery, which reroutes how your body expels waste. An ostomy pouch collects urine or feces from a stoma, an ...

Sara Levitt on the beach; Sara Levitt with a full ostomy bag. Sara Levitt is breaking barriers in more ways than one. A lifelong battle with Crohn’s disease and years of living with an ostomy haven’t ...