Customer Service FAQ's

Urinary incontinence is defined as a loss of the ability to consciously retain urine and of deciding for oneself the time at which it is emptied. The control of urination - the Latin term for this process is "micturition" - requires a complicated regulatory mechanism, which controls the interplay between the urinary bladder, the sphincter system located at the exit of the urethra and the nervous system.

The urinary bladder has the job of storing and expelling urine. During the storage phase, the bladder fills without us being consciously aware of this, with the elastic bladder wall musculature, known as the detrusor muscle, allowing filling to take place without any pressure increase. The sphincter system at the exit of the urethra is closed during the filling phase.

As the bladder becomes increasingly full, the nerve impulses from the bladder, which travel along nerve paths in the spinal cord to the micturition centre in the brain stem and from there to higher brain centres, grow stronger. Once these impulses have reached a certain strength, we perceive them as an urge micturition.

Now, we have the ability to control the micturition centre with our cerebrum, an ability that is learned in childhood. If the place and time are right, we can voluntarily induce urination. In response to the relevant "commands", the bladder contracts and expels the urine. During the emptying phase, the sphincter at the exit of the urethra is lost of tone and open. However, control via the micturition centre also allows us to suppress the urge micturition or to initiate urination even in the absence of an urge micturition.

This simplified explanation of urination makes it obvious just how susceptible to impairment the process can be. An uncontrollable loss of urine can occur when, for example:

The sphincter system is not strong enough and so does not close properly, the bladder contracts too much or not at all, there is an obstruction below the bladder or the neural process for transmitting of impulses between the bladder, spinal cord and brain is either totally or partially impaired.
All these functional disorders are in turn triggered by the most diverse causes, for example, by urinary tract infections, loss of tone of the pelvic floor muscles, benign prostatic hypertrophy, degenerative changes in the brain, metabolic diseases, spinal cord injuries, effects of medication, etc.

Urinary incontinence is thus really a "symptom", that means a sign of an underlying disease that needs treatment. This is why the assumption that urinary incontinence is no danger for health is wrong. It is always important to establish the cause!

Urinary incontinence is subdivided into various types according to the precipitating factors, and this is crucially important to the treatment. The main forms are:

• 'Stress incontinence', caused by a weakness in the sphincter system.


• 'Urge incontinence' in the presence of bladder (detrusor muscle) instability or caused by a variety of bladder diseases.


• 'Overflow incontinence', mostly caused by obstruction in the urethra.


• 'Reflex incontinence', caused by brain dysfunctions or spinal cord diseases.


• 'Stress or urge incontinence' is, at about 80%, the most commonly encountered type, with mixed types not being uncommon - particularly with increasing age.

The loss of the ability to control defecation is termed 'faecal incontinence'. This often goes hand in hand with urinary incontinence - once again, particularly with advanced age.

You first need to decide which type of product you would be interested in i.e.

• Mini Shaped Pad (similar to a female sanitary pad) See MoliMed Range


• Shaped Pad (same as Mini Shaped Pad only on a larger & more absorbent scale) See MoliForm Range


• All-in One/Adult Diaper 'Regular Absorbency', there is a range of products within this catagorey and each of these should be chosen by waist/hip size - See MoliCare Extra range.


• All-in One/Adult Diaper 'Higher Absorbency', there is a range of products within this catagorey and each of these should be chosen by waist/hip size.- See MoliCare Super range & MoliCare Super Plus range

Once chosen you can then decide on absorbency level or size of product that suits best.

You may want to try our Product Finder tool which will guide you through the process of choosing the correct product.

If you have any questions in regard to choosing a product please contact our Customer Care Team or send us an email at info@corium.ie Please be sure to include your contact details in case we need to contact you in regard to your query.

Stress urinary incontinence describes the complaint of the involuntary leakage of urine (bladder weakness) following physical effort. This effort can include physical exertion, or actions such as coughing, sneezing or laughing. Stress incontinence usually only involves small amounts of urine, but is dependent upon how full the bladder is when the abdominal pressure occurs. Stress incontinence is generally connected to a weakening of the pelvic floor muscles and can be a result of physical changes occurring during pregnancy, childbirth and menopause.

Additional information:
Stress urinary incontinence in women is also referred to as Urinary stress incontinence or stress incontinence.

You can call Corium and speak to one of our Customer Care Team to request samples, or email info@corium.ie indicating which product you would like to trial, please ensure you note the product code and description of the product you are requesting so we can get your samples to you as soon as possible. We will also need your complete delivery address and phone number to process the sample request.

Once Corium has received your order and depending where you live Corium will deliver within 48 hours from the time of receipt of your order. In most cases we are able to deliver next working day from receipt of order.

If you have any questions in regard to when the delivery will be made please contact our Customer Care Team or send us an email at info@corium.ie Please be sure to include your contact details in case we need to contact you in regard to your query.

There is no charge for delivery on any order over €40 inclusive of VAT. All prices shown on www.coriumdirect.ie are inclusive of 23% VAT