Elise Sørensen (1903-1977) was the inventor of the ostomy pouch.

Elise Sørensen was a nurse and had come across many patients with colostomy, including her own sister, who had the surgery at the age of 32. Elise Sørensen was determined to find a remedy which could help the patients who encountered many problems when dealing with colostomy.  

In 1954 Elise Sørensen obtained patent on a ostomy pouch, which was very similar to the one we know today. The ostomy pouch was liquid tight, made of a thin elastic material, hermetically sealed and clinged to the skin surrounding the stomal orifice.

Following several refusals, Elise Sørensen contacted the plastic manufacturer Aage Louis-Hansen from Dansk Plastic Emballage to put the ostomy pouch in production. Aage Louis-Hansen´s wife, Johanne Louis-Hansen, was also a nurse and therfore, she knew of the problems that many of the colostomy patients were facing. She could see the potential in the ostomy pouch and convinced her husband to put them in production.

Elise Sørensen and her sister had an appointment at the factury, and in collaboration with the foreman, they began to produce the first pouches, which were hand made and tested by the sister. The result was so good that Elise Sørensen after a short while asked the factury to produce more pouches. The foreman made 952 pouches, which Elise Sørensen gave to colleagues and patients as test objects.

The demand grew rapidly and in 1955 Elise Sørensen and Aage-Louis Hansen signed a licence agreement, which gave Elise Sørensen DKK 7 pennies for each ostomy pouch and a great deal of the production was sold abroad. In 1963, Elise Sørensen was elected nurse of the year by The Danish Nurses’ Organization. 

The company Coloplast, which has its headquarters in Humlebæk north of Copenhagen, was founded in 1957 on the basis of the ostomy pouch production. Today Coloplast is a world-wide company with more than 7000 employees.