Custom Mask...?

Has anyone heard of a company that will build a custom CPAP mask for people. I have a very irregular face, in many ways (Nose too tall with a large chin). I have central sleep apnea so my pressure is very high, 18. So nose pillows do not work for me and, since the pressure maskes me strap the mask on so hard, the current masks hit me at the wrong spot on my face so its pushing my bottom teeth back. Seeing as I have to be on this CPAP for the rest of my life I figure i would pay a lot for a mask that works for me. Does anyone know of a custom mask company? or even heard of it?

How many masks have you tried out - there are so many out there (see Cpap.com for all, with reviews and graphics and more). The only custom mask maker I know of is overseas and charges a fortune.

bigjoe78 wrote:Has anyone heard of a company that will build a custom CPAP mask for people. I have a very irregular face, in many ways (Nose too tall with a large chin). I have central sleep apnea so my pressure is very high, 18. So nose pillows do not work for me and, since the pressure maskes me strap the mask on so hard, the current masks hit me at the wrong spot on my face so its pushing my bottom teeth back. Seeing as I have to be on this CPAP for the rest of my life I figure i would pay a lot for a mask that works for me. Does anyone know of a custom mask company? or even heard of it?

Hi bigjoe78,

It is a misconception that you can't use nasal pillows at 18. Now if you have tried them and found they didn't work for you, that is another story although perhaps another nasal pillow might. And of course, you have to be able to breath through your nose which also be applicable to nasal masks which I was also going to suggest you try if you are a nose breather.

Unfortunately, the only folks who would make a custom mask are the sleep medicine dentists who do a combination of pap therapy and an oral appliance. But that isn't applicable to your situation unfortunately.

A few years ago, there wan an Australian company that custom made a nasal mask and had a facility somewhere in Texas. But they seem to no longer be in existence.

If you could list the masks you have tried and the problems you have encountered, perhaps someone could help you troubleshoot the issues.

Best of luck.

49er

There are many different masks with pillows, prongs, etc. WSeveral on this forum report using only this type of mask with high presures.
The TapPap for examle gets good reviews and is uniques in its design. Early in my therapy I used one called "no mask" similar to the Tap Pap. It was great but my nose is very sensative and gets very sore with any kind of direct contact from "pillows" or anything else in prolonged contact, like a nasel mask that rides too high on my upper lip.

You need to try a veriety of masks. I have about a dozen different ones now. I switch betweem them on occasion, depending on what is happining in my nasal passages and therapy.
No mask no matter how comfortable has been a perfect choice long term.

bigjoe78 wrote:Has anyone heard of a company that will build a custom CPAP mask for people. I have a very irregular face, in many ways (Nose too tall with a large chin). I have central sleep apnea so my pressure is very high, 18. So nose pillows do not work for me and, since the pressure maskes me strap the mask on so hard, the current masks hit me at the wrong spot on my face so its pushing my bottom teeth back. Seeing as I have to be on this CPAP for the rest of my life I figure i would pay a lot for a mask that works for me. Does anyone know of a custom mask company? or even heard of it?

High pressure with Centrals seems a little strange to me.
What machine are you using?
If you're having Centrals, something like an ASV machine might be in order......which can produce high pressures, but are very specialized for treating CSA.


Den

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Big Joe

First lets get the basics out of the way.
1. Post your equipment. There is a link on how to do that in my signature block. With centrals are you using an ASV type machine?
2. For your records, you should get a copy of your sleep / titration study so you can see the type and frequency of your apnea events.
2. Again for your records, you should get a copy of your prescription.

Your mentioned pressure is not all that high, especially for someone with central apneas. My pressure can run up to 25 cm H2O at times.

If you can breathe through your nose at night, it is best if you can use some sort of nasal mask, either a straight nasal mask or nasal pillows. Both types can handle your 18 cm H2O pressure. There are folks on this board that can give advice on nasal masks.

If you have tried several masks and none of them worked, then you might consider trying the mask I use, the Oracle 2 mask.
There is a link to my experience with this mask in my signature block. Let me know if you try one and I can help you with all the issues.

Wulfman... wrote: High pressure with Centrals seems a little strange to me.
What machine are you using?
If you're having Centrals, something like an ASV machine might be in order......which can produce high pressures, but are very specialized for treating CSA.

ASVs run up to 25cm on a breath by breath basis to treat centrals, so, high pressure and centrals make sense, just not *constant* high pressure.

palerider wrote:

Wulfman... wrote: High pressure with Centrals seems a little strange to me.
What machine are you using?
If you're having Centrals, something like an ASV machine might be in order......which can produce high pressures, but are very specialized for treating CSA.

ASVs run up to 25cm on a breath by breath basis to treat centrals, so, high pressure and centrals make sense, just not *constant* high pressure.

Right! However, if a person has "pressure induced" Centrals, higher pressures would be counter intuitive.
And, in some cases, a person with Centrals needs to retain more CO2......as that is the driving force to BREATHE.

It's complicated.......and we need much more info on this one.


Den

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Wulfman... wrote: Right! However, if a person has "pressure induced" Centrals, higher pressures would be counter intuitive.
And, in some cases, a person with Centrals needs to retain more CO2......as that is the driving force to BREATHE.

It's complicated.......and we need much more info on this one.

certainly agree on the 'need more info', does the person have an asv, or a bipap, or ...etc etc.

Sorry, I am new to this world of CPAP and sleep Apnea. The machine is the ResVed S9 VPAP Auto, so it is not constant pressure. When I use my cuirrent mask, Resmed Quattro ™ FX Full Face Mask, i sleep through the night and everything works on the breathing side. The issue is my face and where it hits the bridge of my nose and then my mouth. I am about 6'10" so there are little points on the mask due to the size and angle in the mask that leak when the mask is not tighten down like a sail boat preparing for a hurricane.

I am an inventor/entrepreneur/investor and again this is all new to me. But it seems like give the technology that can be brought to bear in this space that we could build a custom mask to your face. I am sure I would pay a large sum to get it right and it would make sense to me that the process cold lend itself to other types of masks, scuba, pilot, fire, ect.

I guess my question is just in this space of cpap machines, are there enough people who could use a custom mask? I know I would.

There may be a percentage who could use a custom mask.
The more important question is how many of those would be able or opt to pay for one.
The legal hoops one would have to jump through in the US to get FDA approval, or Health Canada aproval.

You would almost have to convince one of the existing manufacturers to make the custom masks. I t would take major motivation $$$ to get them to shift their attention.

And I'm not really sure you can create such a thing anyhow because unfortunately, whether we like it or not, our faces change a fair amount from one position to another. What works for me in one position produces unmentionable sounds and unfixable leaks in others.

bigjoe78 wrote:Sorry, I am new to this world of CPAP and sleep Apnea. The machine is the ResVed S9 VPAP Auto, so it is not constant pressure. When I use my cuirrent mask, Resmed Quattro ™ FX Full Face Mask, i sleep through the night and everything works on the breathing side. The issue is my face and where it hits the bridge of my nose and then my mouth. I am about 6'10" so there are little points on the mask due to the size and angle in the mask that leak when the mask is not tighten down like a sail boat preparing for a hurricane.

I am an inventor/entrepreneur/investor and again this is all new to me. But it seems like give the technology that can be brought to bear in this space that we could build a custom mask to your face. I am sure I would pay a large sum to get it right and it would make sense to me that the process cold lend itself to other types of masks, scuba, pilot, fire, ect.

I guess my question is just in this space of cpap machines, are there enough people who could use a custom mask? I know I would.

first thing is to make sure you have the right size ffm, if it's too big, or too small, it won't fit right.

second, make sure you're fitting it properly at pressure, sometimes too tight is worse.

thirdly, look into mask liners, I use one with my ffm, and it makes a *huge* difference... often turning the horrible squealing/farting leaks into a gentle breeze, if that.

Go up to the Search line and put in "custom mask Australia" and start sifting through the (about 4) pages of links.
They're pricey.


Den

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Here is the YouTube video about the company

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4cvgYW9FqM