Reversal

If your ileostomy is intended to be temporary, further surgery will be needed to reverse it at a later date.

The reversal operation will only be carried out when you're in good health and fully recovered from the effects of the original ileostomy operation.

This will usually be several weeks or months after the initial surgery, or sometimes even longer.

There's no time limit for having an ileostomy reversed, and some people may live with one for several years before it's reversed.

Reversing a loop ileostomy is a relatively straightforward procedure that's carried out under general anaesthetic.

A cut (incision) is made around the stoma and the section of small intestine is pulled out of the tummy (abdomen).

The area that had been divided to form the stoma is then stitched back together and placed back inside the abdomen.

It's also sometimes possible to reverse an end ileostomy if most of the large intestine (colon) has been sealed and left inside the abdomen.

But the surgeon will need to make a larger incision to locate and reattach the small and large intestines.

It therefore takes longer to recover from this type of surgery, and there's a greater risk of complications.

Recovering from ileostomy reversal surgery

Most people are well enough to leave hospital within 3 to 5 days of having ileostomy reversal surgery.

While you recover, you may have diarrhoea and need to go to the toilet more often than normal.

It can take a few weeks for these problems to settle. Your bowel activity may never return to the way it was before you had the ileostomy operation.

If necessary, your GP can prescribe medication to relieve diarrhoea until things improve.

You may also experience a sore anus after the reversal operation. This should improve as the anus becomes used to having stools pass through it again, although common barrier creams can help.

The reversal operation is usually a smaller procedure than the initial ileostomy procedure, but it still takes several weeks to fully recover.

Page last reviewed: Fri Feb 2022 Next review due: Wed Feb 2020