Wow, my eyes

I've been having some trouble with my eyes that I've assumed was from my AutoFit N10 for her leaking a little. But this morning I woke up with bright red inflamed eyes. I had to go in to the eye doctor. Luckily I don't have corneal abrasions. He's concerned that the pressurized air might be going up the drainage tubes inside my nose into my eyes. Does anyone know anything about this? Seems like there would be nothing I could do about that. I only wore my mask six hours last night and wasn't aware of a lot of blowing in my eyes so I'm a little stunned by what greeted me in the mirror. It's 2PM and I still have red eyes. I don't know what I'll do re the cpap tonight.

AMK wrote:I've been having some trouble with my eyes that I've assumed was from my AutoFit N10 for her leaking a little. But this morning I woke up with bright red inflamed eyes. I had to go in to the eye doctor. Luckily I don't have corneal abrasions. He's concerned that the pressurized air might be going up the drainage tubes inside my nose into my eyes. Does anyone know anything about this? Seems like there would be nothing I could do about that. I only wore my mask six hours last night and wasn't aware of a lot of blowing in my eyes so I'm a little stunned by what greeted me in the mirror. It's 2PM and I still have red eyes. I don't know what I'll do re the cpap tonight.

Full face mask. That should spread the pressure out over a larger area and not concentrate it into your nasal passages.


Den

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I had severe dry eyes before CPAP and already had punctal plugs so I can't say if it would have been worse if I hadn't had the plugs. But the leaking of my N10 did irritate my eyes and the Padacheek liner stopped it. Until you decide what to do about the mask, did your doctor give you eye drops? I use Refresh Optive drops and they also make a gel to for overnight that I use occasionally.

I have not been sure about full face masks because from what I have been told, they invariably leak because it's so hard to fit them to all our odd shaped faces, unless you just happen to have a face that fits perfectly into one.

I used to have punctal plugs but the doctor examined me today and said they are gone. He wonders if the cpap pressure blew them out!

I got eye ointment that he recommended, OkyDoky. I had been using drops and a gel but this is an ointment.

AMK wrote:
I used to have punctal plugs but the doctor examined me today and said they are gone. He wonders if the cpap pressure blew them out!

My doctor did say they sometimes they come out and you can swallow them. I would think you would notice them if they blew into your eyes. So you had dry eyes before CPAP also. I also have Glaucoma and have seen where CPAP use can raise eye pressures so I'm hoping it's not the case for me because I don't want to have to think about not using my machine. I have my regular ophthalmologist appointment tomorrow so I will find out if they are still ok.

I've been doing the things they recommend at the http://www.dryeyezone.com, and it has helped a lot. Course, it would make a difference what the underlying condition is, but it's interesting reading. If it's coming up your passage from the nose to the eyes yoou might have to learn to be a mouth breather. Or would that still let the air come up the duct? Let google be your friend.

OkyDoky, let me know how your appointment went, ok? There seems to be mixed messages about glaucoma. I see the top glaucoma doctor in my large city and he says there's no relationship between glaucoma and cpap. He measured my pressures today and they were the same as before I started cpap (all of two weeks ago). I do not have glaucoma but I have a condition that puts me at risk. Anyway I know there's an article on the web that says that cpap can raise pressures, but I have also read criticisms of that paper.

I had punctal plugs put in many years ago, like maybe 15 years or so, and my doctor said that mostly likely they came out on their own during that time. He did not recommend putting new ones in because he believed the cpap would blow them out. I think there is a small surgery where the puncta can be closed, but I'm not ready for that.

That's a good link, herefishy. Looks like they have some good products on their page. Actually my dry eyes had gone away years ago and my eyes have been fine for a long time till this cpap came along two weeks ago. I don't have actual proof that the eyes got inflamed because of air going up the tubes, it may have just been the N10 leaking, in which case something like the dry eye goggles could work.

If you do have air leaking through the nasolacrimal ducts, there are two types of mask that will fix the problem.

A total face mask covers the eyes, mouth, and nose. Since the air pressure is the same inside the nose and around the eyes, there will be little or no airflow through the nasolacrimal ducts.

If you can learn to use it properly, an oral mask will also prevent nasolacrimal duct problems because there is no air pressure in your nose. You need to learn to use it without the nose plugs. There's link to some info in the useful links in my signature line at the bottom of this post.

The total face masks may be hard to get to fit and stop mask leaks. The oral mask tends to dry out your mouth and it may feel uncomfortable to not breathe through your nose.

A full face mask will probably do nothing to help because you will still have the same pressure on the nose end of the nasolacrimal duct.

Sleepyhead will tell you if you are having large leaks, so run that and check your results. You'll see peaks on your leak rate line.

Do you feel any air leakage into the eyes if you pinch your nose and blow gently? Don't blow hard enough to do yourself any harm.

I have to agree with the total face mask. Goggles may help as well.
If you try an oral mask, pay close attention to any change in jaw alignment.

AMK wrote:I've been having some trouble with my eyes that I've assumed was from my AutoFit N10 for her leaking a little. But this morning I woke up with bright red inflamed eyes. I had to go in to the eye doctor. Luckily I don't have corneal abrasions. He's concerned that the pressurized air might be going up the drainage tubes inside my nose into my eyes. Does anyone know anything about this? Seems like there would be nothing I could do about that.

See a real ophthalmologist - there are things that can be done about it.

In general CPAP pressure is too low to blow out the nasocrimal duct in opposite direction. Also, its is even more unlikely that it blew out BOTH ducts (since both your eyes are red in the morning).

My money is on a good old fashioned mask leak near the nose bridge for a long duration.

My suggestion:
1) Get some ointment or drops from the eye doctor to reduce inflammation.
2) The way to test it is to wear some night goggles or eye shades. If it is the nasocrimal duct, they would be red in the morning. Otherwise, you know its just a mask leak at the nose bridge.

Guest1 wrote:In general CPAP pressure is too low to blow out the nasocrimal duct in opposite direction. Also, its is even more unlikely that it blew out BOTH ducts (since both your eyes are red in the morning).
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You are wrong. Completely wrong. It has been seen on this site. You can find it documented on the net under ophthalmology. It is rare but not that rare.

BlackSpinner wrote:

Guest1 wrote:In general CPAP pressure is too low to blow out the nasocrimal duct in opposite direction. Also, its is even more unlikely that it blew out BOTH ducts (since both your eyes are red in the morning).
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You are wrong. Completely wrong. It has been seen on this site. You can find it documented on the net under ophthalmology. It is rare but not that rare.

BlackSpinner: I said "in general". And as you yourself said, "it is rare". We don't know what pressures the OP is running with. I just wanted to state that other "common" reasons should be considered and eliminated before a "rare" reason is considered to be the one.

Thanks.