# Colostomies and other unnatural body openings... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2001, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colostomies-and-other-unnatural-body-openings/78118 "2001-08-25T20:39:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colostomies-and-other-unnatural-body-openings/78118/1 "2001-08-25T20:39:42Z")
I don’t wish to offend anyone who has one or knows and loves anyone who has one, but I’m really curious about them. It seems really amazing to me that you can have a hole that nature didn’t put there and not constantly be fighting infections and other problems. Is there a way to seal it closed? Are the edges healed over? How large is it? It would just freak me out…I’d be afraid that things would get in me via that route. Can you clean it? Do you have to keep water out? Do you have any control or awareness of your elimination? Just curious, mean no offense. stoid ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colostomies-and-other-unnatural-body-openings/78118/2 "2001-08-25T21:54:42Z")
I imagine that there are a few million people in the U.S. walking around with ostomies of various types. I think if you poked around the web, you could find some support groups for ostomy patients. My mother had a colostomy as part of her treatment for colon cancer. I don’t think infection from it was a big problem. (Not nearly as much as the cancer metastasizing and ultimately killing her). I believe the hardest thing my mom had to deal with was adjusting her diet so she wouldn’t have to excrete as much. Many people who get colostomies have them only temporarily and they can be reversed. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colostomies-and-other-unnatural-body-openings/78118/3 "2001-08-25T22:27:59Z")
Stoid,what about all those people with rings or pins stuck into just about every part of the body you can imagine? Same idea, sort of. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colostomies-and-other-unnatural-body-openings/78118/4 "2001-08-25T22:49:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > \*\* > Stoid,what about all those people with rings or pins stuck into just about every part of the body you can imagine? Same idea, sort of. \*\* No, handy. Not really the same idea at all. “SIGH” ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colostomies-and-other-unnatural-body-openings/78118/5 "2001-08-26T03:29:49Z")
Colostomy FAQ. [http://www.ostomy.fsnet.co.uk/](http://www.ostomy.fsnet.co.uk/) Another colostomy FAQ. [http://www.coloplast.co.uk/Homepage/GB/prodover.nsf/(FAQENTRANCE)/Ostomy](http://www.coloplast.co.uk/Homepage/GB/prodover.nsf/(FAQENTRANCE)/Ostomy) An admirably short and concise colostomy FAQ. [http://www2.netdoor.com/~darren/ici.html](http://www2.netdoor.com/~darren/ici.html) Colostomy supplies FAQ. [http://ostomystore.com/faq.htm](http://ostomystore.com/faq.htm) Famous person with colostomy. [http://cancer.med.upenn.edu/reviews/colon/books/second\_br.html](http://cancer.med.upenn.edu/reviews/colon/books/second_br.html) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colostomies-and-other-unnatural-body-openings/78118/6 "2001-08-26T03:42:11Z")
When I saw the tread title along side of Stoid’s name, all I could think was, “Please don’t let this be about expanding the edge of sexual boundaries.” ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colostomies-and-other-unnatural-body-openings/78118/7 "2001-08-26T04:08:41Z")
Why would you ever think that? When did I ever give the impression that I was wildly kinky?? Not to mention downright twisted! ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colostomies-and-other-unnatural-body-openings/78118/8 "2001-08-26T06:15:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Stoid \* > \*\*Why would you ever think that? When did I ever give the impression that I was wildly kinky?? Not to mention downright twisted! \*\* In a [discussion](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=78676&pagenumber=4) as to whether or not skinning a live cat constituted art, on 22 July you gave your definition of art, and stated that pertaining to the skinning of the cat: “This art is abhorant to most people. That does not mean it isn’t art.” On 24 July I replied directly to your position with my definition of art, which included not only positive qualifiers (that which defines what is art), but also negative qualifiers (that which defines what is not art). I stated that “when the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences directly and deliberately causes real, significant and non-consensual pain and death, then it is not art.” I challenged you to perform a mind experiment by imagining that rather than fiction, the illustrated stories of Dolcett [extremely violent, often physically impossible porn] were performance art, in which you and your family were participants, and then tell me if you would still “seriously contend that such activity could be considered art?” You did not reply. The next post of yours I came across was on 26 July in a [discussion](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=79495) of how satisfying pornography is, in which you stated: > [@](#): > > **I am a big fanatasizer, and I can tell you straight up that the stuff I think about is stuff I would NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER do in real life. NEVER EVER. Some of it is not even possible, and some of it is erotic in the mind, but repulsive in reality. (don’t EVEN ask, just take it at face value.)** Given this warning posted by you, given what you had already put forth as being art, and given your deafening silence concerning Dolcett, I took your advice and did not ask. The next time I came across a post of yours, it was your OP for this thread asking about “unnatural body openings.” Based on your posts of the last week of July, what went through my mind was “Please don’t let this be about expanding the edge of sexual boundaries.” ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colostomies-and-other-unnatural-body-openings/78118/9 "2001-08-26T12:19:32Z")
**Muffin** , if you have a problem with another poster arising from a Pit thread, I suggest you deal with it via e-mail, in the original Pit thread, or in a new Pit thread, but certainly **not** in GQ or any other forum. bibliophage moderator, GQ ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colostomies-and-other-unnatural-body-openings/78118/10 "2001-08-26T13:01:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bibliophage \* > \*\ ***Muffin** , if you have a problem with another poster arising from a Pit thread, I suggest you deal with it via e-mail, in the original Pit thread, or in a new Pit thread, but certainly **not** in GQ or any other forum. > > bibliophage > moderator, GQ \*\* Quite right. Your admonishment is accecpted and I apologize. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colostomies-and-other-unnatural-body-openings/78118/11 "2001-08-26T14:34:13Z")
Why not QM? After all, isn’t a hole a hole? Some of those holes created when rings are put in can stay open for a long time. That was just the first part of the OP, the other part , not. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colostomies-and-other-unnatural-body-openings/78118/12 "2001-08-26T14:41:08Z")
I misunderstood your implication in the post, **handy**. My apologies. But the two cases are quite different. Ostomy creation involves making a new, artificial excretory orifice; attaching a bodily organ directly to the outside world. Mucous tissue is joined to muscle and dermis. With body piercing, a hole is made thru skin and stretched.