Mask help for new cpap user

Hello,
I have been diagnosed with sleep apnea, and have been using a cpap machine for about a week now. The good thing is I am sleeping much better. I have a few questions on masks. They gave me a nasal sleep mask during the sleep study, which is what they gave me when I got the machine. It has been a bit of an adjustment to breath through just my nose at night. What are others experience between the full face mask and nasal mask? Second, I am getting a mark on my nose from the mask. Is there anyway to avoid this? I have tried loosening the mask, but doesn't get any better. Thanks for your help!
Thanks,
Mark

Hi Mark,

Welcome to the forum. You will find a lot of helpful and knowledgeable people here.

First of all, it helps a lot if you put your equipment details in your signature. If you go to your user control panel in the top lefthand corner, you will find a link to "profile" and under that "edit equipment'. Although you told us which mask you use, it will also help to know your machine and pressures.

f you click on anyone's equipment profile, you will find links taking you to Cpap.com equipment which contains reviews of every piece of equipment. You will be able to read others experience of the Eson there. Be sensible and disregard the especially glowing reviews which are obvious plants!

Another useful resource is this one wiki/index.php/CPAP_Mask which addresses a lot of issues regarding masks. There is a huge choice, and the one they choose for you at the sleep study is by no means the best possible one for you. I'm in Australia and my clinic allows me to loan masks which has been very helpful in choosing the best one. Things might be different where you are, but I think the masks are cheaper in USA.

I look forward to following this thread and wish you all the best in finding the most comfortable mask for yourself. It can be a bit frustrating and tiresome at times, but when your therapy is working you will feel so well again!

Welcome Mark.

Just my personal experiences with the full face type of mask.
I've been using this mask since I started treatment around the middle of December, 2013. I chose the full face mask over the others because I do breathe from my mouth while sleeping.

The first 3 months or so were spent trying to get used to having something attached to my face while trying to sleep. The next several months were spent trying to find the right strap adjustment to prevent leaks and keep from having the marks on my face from the mask.
After reading a good many of the posts here regarding the strap adjustment, I have finally found a good compromise of leak prevention and comfort. I've discovered that it can be much looser than you would think and still maintain a good seal.

Now, I'm not sure how your type of mask is built, but I'm guessing it has a similar type of cushion configuration as the full face mask but smaller. Just keep experimenting with the strap adjustment and see what you can come up with.

Good luck and get full use of the forum and sage advice found here

Paul

Thanks for the tips. I setup an appt with Apria to try another mask. Unfortunately it will be after my vacation, so will have to make the best with this mask for 3 weeks. I have a nice mark on the top of my nose now. I tried putting some tape on my nose, but that didn't help. Just made it lose pressure. I do not have the mask very tight, maybe this mask is just not suitable for my face .

Thanks,
Mark

cpapmark wrote:Thanks for the tips. I setup an appt with Apria to try another mask. Unfortunately it will be after my vacation, so will have to make the best with this mask for 3 weeks. I have a nice mark on the top of my nose now. I tried putting some tape on my nose, but that didn't help. Just made it lose pressure. I do not have the mask very tight, maybe this mask is just not suitable for my face .

Thanks,
Mark

The Eson is a very good, newer design mask -- however there are also a boatload of other excellent nasal masks out there too. You will quickly learn that trial and error are often the best way to pick the best fitting mask. Definitely ask your DME to try others. Or perhaps you are not fitting the Eson properly. Where are the pressure sores/marks on your face? Have you re-reviewed the fitting guide? Lanky lefty on youtube does a nice video review on the Eson. Check him out.

If you'd like to try a FFM, those can also be a very good option and there are several new, very low profile FFMs that just came out, including the Resmed F10 and the Fisher Paykel Simplus. The Simplus fits well and I have found it very comfy and quiet. I have had some very minor leaks with it, however. But perhaps your face would fit it better. I'd ask to try it. FFMs may help you because of the mouth opening issue, and also, they spread the pressure over more area than a nasal mask so it may cause you less problems with pressure sores. For me, nasal masks can sometimes cause bad pressure sores right above my upper lip, just under my nose.

One last thing -- minor leaks are considered normal and the machines can compensate for them. So don't go crazy overtightening things to get rid of every last leak. Better to try your best and if the leaks simply don't allow you to sleep at all, then try another mask, or, even a mask 'liner'. Ultimately there may still be some minor leaks no matter what you do, but as long as minor, the machine will still make up for it.

Good luck.

I just started CPAP a week ago myself, and finding the right mask is certainly not always easy. I originally got the Respironics Amara Gel full face mask, but couldn't get comfortable. The bridge of my nose would be red until noon, and two red marks on my forehead. I went back on Friday, and got a Nuance nasal pillow mask and a chinstrap. I also got a sample of REMZZZS mask liners for my Amara mask.

The Nuance seemed like it was going to work. It fit great. The headgear didn't slide around like the Amara. Then I slept a couple nights with it. The chinstrap kept sliding off, and I kept having to wake up to put my mask back on.

Last night I put my Amara back on with the mask liner. The fit was much more comfortable, but it still pinched my nose. I loosened the top as much as possible while still keeping contact. The mask pinches the bony bridge of my nose. I didn't have a red mark on my nose all morning but I did still have a pair of red marks on my forehead. I guess I will have to go back to my DME, again, and ask for a different full face mask. Hopefully one without a forehead bar.

I've used a full face mask from night 2 since I'm a known mouth breather, plus I just like not having to worry about mouth leaks, a chinstrap, taping, etc. I oddly enough find the full face mask more comfortable and easier to fit, and am happy with the first one I tried (not the norm). There is one spot on my nose where the mask likes to try to leave a mark, but I find a small piece of thin medical cloth tape with Lanolin ointment underneath works well. The tape without the Lanolin seemed to irritate my skin a lot (plus was tough to remove). Gentle paper tape was almost worse than no tape for me for whatever reason. The area I need tape over is actually inside the main seal of the mask though, so I could see having to tape an area at the mask seal might cause more leaks. Leaks at the bridge of the nose up into the eyes are quite annoying. When I get those I've found it means I need the mask to sit higher on my face, but I assume it varies mask to mask.

When you say not very tight...can you fit a couple of fingers inside the straps on each side? That is an example of a good loose fit for me. Agreed fitting videos are helpful. Most masks have an air cushion which must inflate, so too tight causes more leaks. Agreed also that some leaking is ok, as long as it isn't excessive, and doesn't disturb your sleep. You can get software to look at your data to check. For the S9 you ideally want to stay below the large leak threshold of 24 L/min for the machine to compensate. I believe the green smile face doesn't turn into a red frown face until something like 30% of the time in large leak territory, so it is something good to look at on data.

Many folks here love mask liners, either RemZZZs (disposable) or Pad-a-Cheek (reusable). I found they made my mask fit too tight, especially around the nose. But yes it does sound like you should at least try some other masks. You shouldn't have to deal with that bad of a pressure point. Most DMEs have a policy such as free mask swaps for 30 days (often letting you keep the mask or else they would just toss it), so if its at all possible to get in before your trip, I'd try to do that. Do ask what their policy is though. If you can manage with only nasal breathing, lots of folks like the nasal pillows. Or, go the other way and try a full face mask. Or both. Best wishes.

Hello,
I finally had my follow-up appointment and got a FFM. It is a ResMed AirFit F10. I tried it for the first time last night, and slept horribly. It was moving around all over the place, which caused leaks. I will try it again tonight. Any tips on making it more stable? I am afraid to tighten it too much.
Thanks,
Mark

I was just going to suggest the F10 for you. I started this journey with the Quattro Air, which uses the same cushion as the F10, which I've recently switched to. I found the Air to be all-over leaky, and farting noises like crazy. I couldn't tame them until I discovered mask liners, and they were a game changer for me. I rarely have a leak that wakes me now, even on the rare night that I get into large leak territory... case in point, sleepyhead this morning showed me that I had a 4-minute stretch in large leak, and as far as I know, I slept through it.

So, my suggestion to you if the F10 is comfortable on your face otherwise is to try mask liners as another poster has suggested. It's possible this isn't the right mask for you, or that it's the wrong size, in which case you'll be looking at different masks. I really like the F10; unlike the Quattro Air, it doesn't have a forehead arm and a strap around the top of my head. I feel so free without that upper strap.

The F10 and Quattro can sometimes work better with a special pillow - like this one:
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/contou ... cover.html

I ended up working on clearing my nose and going with P10 nasal pillows and am having great results...

Sorry but i just wrote a long post somewhere here last night, and wouldn't want to write the same thing twice about the QUATTRO AIR being best for angular faces and described mine so as to give someone else w with that same face shape an idea of what to compare to since I haven't any leakage at all with mine.

My DME told me it was best for such face shapes and I figure if she could figure it out so well, as it was my first mask and the best fitting one then perhaps other DMEs are familiar with face shape as well?
Worth asking I would think...

IF you have an angular face I LOVE it.........never a leak

Mines in perfect shape and i am going to pick up another one or two tomorrow just for back up--that is how much i do like it

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/contour ... cover.html

I have wondered about those pillows. I can see that they would likely work when you first fall asleep but i would think that once you are, it might be questionable after you move around a bit, or flip sides? I would imagine you'd be all over the place as you would on any pillow? i think i will pick one up to try it......

If you have your head in the central "trough" you can flip side to side and stay in the cut outs quite easily...

cpapmark wrote:Hello,
I have been diagnosed with sleep apnea, and have been using a cpap machine for about a week now. The good thing is I am sleeping much better. I have a few questions on masks. They gave me a nasal sleep mask during the sleep study, which is what they gave me when I got the machine. It has been a bit of an adjustment to breath through just my nose at night. What are others experience between the full face mask and nasal mask? Second, I am getting a mark on my nose from the mask. Is there anyway to avoid this? I have tried loosening the mask, but doesn't get any better. Thanks for your help!
Thanks,
Mark

My nasal mask of choice for years has been the Philips Respironics Profile Lite gel mask with headgear. The mask comes equipped with a small square gel piece attached to the mask which rests at the top of your nose but I take mine out because with it gone I get a better fit with the mask and besides the top of the headgear's straps run through 2 slots on the mask where the small square gel piece is located.

This is the mask: https://www.cpap.com/productpage/profil ... onics.html

Have you thought about trying pillows? I've actually found the Nuance and P10s to be very good for my 100% side sleeping. If they do get pushed to one side they seem to hold their seal or can be reset by simple pull and release. I use 3 firm normal pillows and tend to sleep on the edge of the pillow stack.

I tried the FFM again last night. I gave up after 45 mins. I switched to my nasal mask, got 8+ hours of sleep last night. I guess I am getting used to the nasal mask. I have it loose enough where it doesn't mark my nose, but also holds a good seal. When I move around, the nasal mask hold pretty well. In the FFM, it moves all over the place and breaks the seal.

Thanks for you help!