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<aside> ❓ Our team was tasked to design a durable ostomy belt that allows patients like Himesh Patel to keep an active lifestyle. The ostomy belt should have a secure connection between the skin barrier and the detachable pouch. In addition, the ostomy needs to be comfortable as Himesh’s job requires intense physical activities over a long period of time.
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<aside> 💡 Adhering to these guidelines, we went through multiple rapid prototyping stages before arriving at the idea of Vestomy🦺, the heavy-duty ostomy belt built for durability. The Vestomy has four major components: the skin barrier, the press-and-twist lock, the belt, and the vest.
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<aside> 💡 The Vestomy retains the original design of the skin barrier, which is well-adhered to the skin. The only modification made to the skin barrier is that it is now attached to one end of the press-and-twist lock. In the future, better materials will be incorporated into the design to improve adhesion and minimize harm to the skin.
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The modified skin barrier. In real world the skin barrier and the lock would be one integrated part
<aside> 💡 To further emphasize the security and durability of our Vestomy under a physically active lifestyle, we implemented a twisting lock to connect the skin barrier to the tube, just like the cap of the water bottle. Such design ensures the security of the connection and preserves the waterproof and sterile qualities of the original design.
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The 3D models of the press-and-twist lock and the final product.
<aside> 💡 The output from the stoma then goes through the press-and-twist lock and enters the belt. The belt consists of two parts: a reusable outer layer and an exchangeable inner layer. The outer layer is normally attached to the vest and resembles an actual belt. The inner layer is a tube with 20mm cross-sectional diameter. The reason why we choose a tube instead of a conventional pouch is that the belt can evenly spread the weight of the output and can be perfectly attached to the vest.
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<aside> 💡 The vest goes around the patient’s should and anchors the belt in place. It essentially removes the support the weight of the belt and minimizes the impact of belly movement on the connection. On the outside, the suspender looks just like a normal vest (or it can be customized to resemble a construction vest 🦺).
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