A few months back I was introduced to the new Ostique Onovus Solo stoma bags, which are marketed as the first silent stoma bag. As someone who has on more occasion received funny looks when I’ve bent over and my stoma bag has rustled, this idea sounded great!

I popped over to the Ostique website and ordered myself some samples to try – promising myself I’d write a review for you once I had! As you know, I’m a believer brutal honesty – no rubbish here!

Sizing and convexity – Ostique Onovus Solo:

Going into ordering my samples, I was quickly made aware that there were no convexity options as of yet (June 2025) for these bags, meaning it’s flat or nothing. Due to leaks, I have found convexity really helping to me for my main ileostomy bag (known as ‘Merlin’) – but I tend to be able to use flat on my mucus fistula (known as ‘Bruno’). Unfortunately, Ostique currently only do one size of bag which is the regular – meaning it’s too big to attempt to use on Bruno. Although not loving the idea of losing the convexity, I opted to try the regular bag anyway – as apparently the adhesive is stronger?

Adhesion – Ostique Onovus Solo:

SUPER important to any stoma owner – how well does it stick!? I found the adhesive quite odd on these bags, as it’s a thin layer that sticks to you, allowing better movement while wearing the bag. I did quite like this, although the plastic felt extremely thin (more like the sort of dressing they’d use to protect a cannula in hospital) and this made me feel a little nervous of how well it would last. Having said this, I didn’t have any leaks during the time I wore the bag.

I did notice that there was no sort of ‘pull tab’ on the adhesion layer, which the bags I usually use from Coloplast, do have. I found this to be challenging, as I use the pull tab to help me loosen the adhesive when changing my bag and it makes the process more accessible, even with shaky hands!

Scent – Ostique Onovus Solo:

The biggest downside for me of this bag, is the scent. From the moment I applied it, I was aware of the very plastic smell of the bag – this came through my clothes, my underwear – everything smelt of plastic. As an autistic person, smells bother me a lot and I couldn’t find a way to mask this so that it didn’t bother me. The back layer of the bag which sits against your skin has a sort of white, fabric coating on it which is where I believe the majority of the smell was coming from.

In terms of the vent on the bag, this did seem to work well and didn’t let out any smells, although I did struggle with ballooning while I wore it. I don’t think there’s any system to totally prevent ballooning out there, as if you keep the output in, you can’t let the air out, however, this didn’t stand out to me as particularly revolutionary, although it is marketed as such.

Spout – Ostique Onovus Solo:

The drainable spout on the Onovous solo left a lot to be desired in my eyes. It has an unusual closing mechanism, where you have to twist the plastic around and then back on itself. While nice and secure, this I found to be very messy to keep clean through the day with semi-thin output and didn’t feel like it was going to stay closed which made me worry.

When it came to emptying, although the spout was a good width, it was very bent from being wrapped up and that didn’t make for a good angle. As someone with a high-output stoma, I also found that the bags capacity was less than the comparable from Coloplast, which was a downer for me as I need all the capacity I can get, otherwise I find myself in the bathroom a lot for bag changes.

Sound – Ostique Onovus Solo:

I can’t argue, this bag does keep its promising when it comes to silence! The plastic on the outer is think and good quality, meaning that there’s next to no noise as you move. The plastic is also waterproof, so taking a shower, or a swim is a breeze!

I tested it by bending, stretching, wearing it in clothes – full and empty – little to no noise.

Overall thoughts – Ostique Onovus Solo:

In terms of the Onovus Solo’s promise to be silent – I think this bag does achieve that. However, its seemingly at the cost of some of the other features of the stoma bags that we’ve gained in previous versions of the bag designs. We have progress, but we’ve lost so much on the way. For me, key features such as bag capacity, convexity and spout shape are more important than whether or not it can be heard – and these are definitely a make or break in my want to use these.

My feeling is that while these are to an extent well thought out, they haven’t been designed by an ostomy user or people with a genuine mixture of disabilities. For example, the situation with the scent of the bags my not be as much of an user who is not autistic, but for me, really affected me throughout the trial period and made me feel that I smelt bad. It really just highlights the need to consultant a wide focus group when designing new products for ostomies and, not assuming what it is that the community wants without asking.

Bonus Review:

Ostique sent me a bottle of their freshening drops to try as well as the bags – so I couldn’t miss this out of my post! In terms of the product, it comes in a nice large bottle and the scent is strong. However, I never find I get on with these drops and the main reason is because they nearly always come in mint-type scents – and I don’t like the way this mixes with the output. Maybe my output is particularly potent, but rather than covering it up and making it fresh – I end up with this vile mixture of mint and output, which is somehow worse than using just plain deodoriser tabs. So while I did try this, it’s not something I’ll be continuing to use.