I received my Stealth Belt a few weeks ago and used it on a short hike, but I’ve been wanting to try it out on a longer hike before fully reviewing it. The belt that I received is the Stealth Belt Pro Ostomy Support Belt. My stoma is on the left, so I ordered one that fits the left side, accommodates a 70mm flange, and fits 34″ body size. I followed the Size Guide and instructions on how to measure the flange. To be honest, I probably should have sized down a little bit on the body size, but even though I think the belt is a little big, I’m able to cinch it down enough with the velcro closures to make it a more snug fit.

Now, until I received my Stealth Belt, I’ve never worn my ostomy bag sideways. In fact, I’ll say I was pretty skeptical of wearing it that way. Mostly because I was worried about how I would empty my bag in that position.

So, that being said, it felt a little strange at first to put on the belt and orient my bag in a horizontal position.

I’m still getting used to the belt, so it takes me a little time to put it on and tuck my bag inside. I wear a 2-piece system, so when I’ve put the belt on, I’ve also opted to just change my bag out for a new one when turning it sideways to avoid leaking any stool. On my Mt. Alice ridge trip, I wore my bag vertically for the car ride and then changed it out and put the new one on horizontally at the trailhead.

So far, I’ve found the belt to be quite comfortable. I hardly notice it’s there. I was even thinking yesterday that when I’m hiking, I normally feel my bag get heavy and know it’s time to empty, but on this trip, I had to look down or feel my bag to know it was time to empty because it was so supported by the belt. I’ve also appreciated the fact that the end of the bag doesn’t chafe my leg in this position. Normally, unless I wear my ostomy underwear, I end up with chaffing on the inside of my thigh from where the end of the bag rubs all day. The Stealth Belt covers the bag entirely, so that is not an issue. Another thing that I noticed, as a female, is that it’s nice not to have to move my bag out of the way while peeing and wearing the Stealth Belt. Typically, when I squat to pee, I have to kind of hold my bag up out of the way. But again, with the bag in the horizontal position, and tucked away, that’s not an issue.

Finally, let’s talk about emptying your ostomy while it’s in the horizontal position. Again, I was a bit skeptical about this. Especially when I’m hiking or recreating outside, I don’t empty my ostomy as much as I do when I’m at home. So when I do go to empty it, it’s pretty full. This is why I was nervous about the horizontal position. When my bag fills up, especially if it’s more liquidy, the stool can come rushing out in an uncontrolled manner, and I had fears of it spilling all over me and the Stealth Belt. But so far, that hasn’t happened! I’ve emptied my bag 2 times while wearing the Stealth Belt, and it pretty much hangs down like it normally would when I go to empty it. I have to work a bit more to fully empty, and sometimes I have to do kind of a ninja squat to make sure that I have space to empty, but so far no poo-catastrophies! I’m going to list my top pros and cons below, but overall, I think the Stealth Belt is a neat product for ostomates who want to keep their ostomy bag supported and out of the way! I’m going to keep trying the Stealth Belt out with various activities, so I’ll keep you posted on what I think as I wear it more!

My Top Stealth Belt Pros

• I barely knew my bag was there while hiking (no dragging feeling)!
• My bag was nice and supported, so as it got full, it wasn’t pulling and wearing away at the seal!
• While tucked into the belt, there was no way my bag was going to chafe my leg (I ended up with really bad bag chafe one time after running an ultra race. That was no fun.)
• I didn’t have to move my bag out of the way while peeing!
• My movement felt less restricted when hiking/climbing uphill because my bag wasn’t hanging down and restricting my hip flexors.

My Top Stealth Belt Cons

• Because of my every day preference for wearing my bag vertically, I had to change it to the horizontal position when putting on the Stealth Belt which added an extra step for me at the trailhead.
• It can be a little bit awkward to empty, but I’m assuming that will get better with practice.
• I felt that in the horizontal position, as my bag filled up, it was more obvious under my shirt. So if you’re looking to keep your bag low profile, this may be something to think about (Stealth Belt does have a vertical belt option though which might be more low profile.) This could also be specific to my body shape.