Objective To investigate the effect of personalized continuing education on the compliance of permanent colostomy patients. Methods A total of 160 cases to accept a permanent colostomy were selected from October 2011 to December 2013, and were averagely divided into experimental group and control group according to random number table method in accordance with the composition. The patients of the control group were given conventional educational methods while the patients of the experimental group were given personalized continuing health education on the basis of the control group. The Excise of Self-care Agency Scale (ESCA) had been used for the assessment of patient′s self-care ability about colostomy. Results The score of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group at ESCA (P<0.05); the color judgment of colostomy, subsidiary products application of colostomy, the prevention and its nursing of colostomy complications in the experimental group were better than those of the control group (P<0.05). The higher score in the experimental group also represented at aspects of patient′s self-care knowledge control (97.5%), self-care implementation (92.5%), achieving personalized health goal (97.5%) and complier (96.3%) compared with those of the control group (χ2=4.574, 6.874, 7.873, 9.872, respectively; P<0.05). Conclusions The personalized continuing health education can improve the compliance of permanent colostomy patients. Key words: Colostomy; Health education; Compliance