Mask forming suggestions

[JointPain]

After several nights of bad leakage and feeling pretty poorly, I tried "forming" my old Respironics Profile Lite mask for last night. I thought I followed the recommended procedure: boil for 4 minutes, dunk in cold water for 10 seconds, wear at normal headgear tension for 5 minutes. After the procedure, the mask seemed like a good snug fit.

Until I turned on the CPAP (11 cm), at which time either the sides or bottom or both would blow out and leak pretty badly.

Does anybody have any suggestions for doing better "forming"?

The good news is that it forced me to hastily try my new Swift FX nasal pillows and they didn't leak as badly. (I thought they didn't leak much at all, but the stats show they did leak some (and I did set the mask type).) Unfortunately, the new sensation was a bit uncomfortable and I didn't get much actual sleep. Maybe tonight.

[nanwilson]

Try the boil and cool thing again, but this time lay down for your waiting period. Your face changes shape when you lay down. Also try to slacken your jaw a bit -- in other words don't clench your teeth.
Good luck
Nan

[harry33]

when experimenting with tension of straps, keep pulling mask slightly away from face to check for uniform tension, remember new elastic stretches so this will need to be compensated for
adjust the part that presses against forehead for the angle

[JointPain]

Thanks Nan and Harry for the suggestions.

I did another reforming this time just resting the mask in position but with no pressure as I lay down for 5 minutes. I figured I would get somewhere between neutral and my ideal shape, but at least that would be a lot better than the previous results.

And it certainly did work a lot better, in that it appeared to have little/no leaks when I was conscious.

However, for 20 minutes in the middle of a 1.5 hour test sleep it leaked really badly. That could just be the tension which might need a little further tightening. (Normally, I just slip the whole headgear over the head, but for the reforming I had to release the bottom straps, so I'll need to gradually tighten them up again.)