Over a 12-year period, 276 temporary colostomies were performed on 271 patients. During this interval 118 colostomies were closed. The morbidity rate of colostomy construction was 21 per cent, and for closure it was 49.1 per cent. No definite factor could be indentified as contributing to this high rate of complications for colostomy construction. With respect to colostomy closure, predisposing factors that seemed to increase morbidity were shorter interval between creation and closure of the stoma and resection of colostomy (as opposed to closure without resection). Intra-abdominal drains were associated with a prohibitively high rate of wound infection, although subcutaneous drainage was not successful in reducing the incidence of infection significantly.