, Jasmine’s final product – a powder called “StomaEase” – is helping feeding tube users and caregivers alike

(This is the first profile in “Creating for Complex”, a new series on my blog highlighting people affected by complex medical needs who are creating solutions to often-overlooked problems.)

It was 2020 and Jasmine Sturr, like many of us, was determined to keep busy during the uncertainty of quarantine. Her mission? She wanted to create a product that addressed the skin issues she had developed around her feeding tube site. Five years later, Jasmine’s final product – a powder called “StomaEase” – is helping feeding tube users and caregivers alike, my family included!

I was fortunate enough to chat with Jasmine in honor of Feeding Tube Awareness Week 2025, which runs February 2-8.

Jasmine has used a feeding tube for nutrition since 2015, due to motility issues related to Juvenile Onset Parkinson’s.

As I’ve mentioned before, both on this blog and in my book, many kinds of feeding tubes look and function similar to a cross between a post earring and an air vent you use to blow up an inflatable beach ball. The tube is surgically inserted into the stomach or intestine – basically like piercing an ear, but with a wider post. There are several kinds of feeding tubes, and each is named according to where it enters the body and/or delivers food. (The “piercing” itself is called a “stoma”.)

As anyone who has ever had a piercing knows, you have to be very careful of infection and allergic reactions. Now imagine that same sensitivity but with the added problem of digestive acids.

Most feeding tube users experience skin reactions around their tube at some point, ranging from mild redness to the chemical burns Jasmine experienced in 2020. There is no one standard product or treatment providers recommend, but rather it is up to patients and caregivers to figure out their own solution. As a result, many people turn to online support groups or social media for tips and ideas.

Jasmine was fortunate to have an academic and professional background in chemistry, specifically medical technology and pharmaceuticals.

“I began reading about compounds to address my J-tube burn, as nothing was helping. I poured everything I learned from degrees and background into this product,” she told me.

Jasmine also knew what she did – and didn’t – want in her product:

  • • She wanted something that absorbed moisture and dried into a gel that was easy to remove.
  • • She wanted something completely edible (as it could get in digestive tract), made with only natural products.
  • • She did NOT want something that stuck to skin. (Until StomaEase, the majority of products sold were meant for ostomy bags, which meant they adhered to the skin and caused even worse irritation.)

Jasmine’s final formulation – what we now know as StomaEase – is a powder that you apply around the feeding tube site and then cover with either a silicone StomaDisc, split gauze or another preferred cover material. (We use washable fabric tubie pads.) It works amazingly for my son’s site – he is so much more comfortable now, and even with his super sensitive skin he has far less irritation and infection.

Once Jasmine discovered a formulation that worked on addressing her burns, she and her father Mel patented their product. In 2023, the Sturrs started collaborating with Martin von Dyck, a medical device engineer and one of the founders of LumaClean. Today, StomaEase is part of LumaClean’s growing feeding tube product lineup.

Jasmine continues to work with LumaClean, researching product-based solutions to challenges faced by the rare disease community. She speaks about patient advocacy and participation in the pharmaceuticals industry for groups like the World Parkinson Congress and the Oley Foundation.

“I think that there is a lot of space for – and need for – patients to have a voice in solving problems,” she told me. “Listen to patients and hire patients, because they are the experts!”

She also said she is grateful for the connections she’s made with other tube-fed patients and their caregivers over the past few years.

“There are so many different people with feeding tubes. No one knows this world exists, but once they do, it opens all these conversations and ways to empathize.”

If you would like more information on StomaEase or any of LumaClean’s other products, please visit LumaCleanCares.com. 

(Author’s note: I did receive free product from LumaClean in exchange for this article. All opinions are my own, however. I have been a paying customer of the StomaEase product for a year now.) 

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