what do you use to clean your mask daily/weekly?

[brendatv]

I am interested in knowing what products people use for cleaning their masks on a daily and weekly basis. Do you sanitize it in any way? What do you use to wash your face?

[big sherry]

I have only been a CPAPer now for about one month, however my medical provider told me to clean my mask daily with Baby butt wipes. I clean the hoses and the humidifier container with 1/4 cup of white vinegar and 1 cup of distilled water. The vinegar kills the bacteria. Hope I have helped you some.

[HoseCrusher]

I use this product and clean, following their instruction, daily. I also do a more through cleaning weekly.

http://www.respi-products.com/respiclean.asp

No infections or other problems so far.

[TOken]

Daily I use Nature Clean liquid soap on my mask.

http://www.naturecleanliving.com/all_na ... iquid_soap

Once a week I do a complete cleaning of hose, humidifier tank, etc... Using the same stuff.

In a pinch I have used:

http://www.citrus2.com/cpap.html

Still have 1/2 a container my DME gave me.

[DocWeezy]

I use the Citrus mask cleaning spray....got some free and I like it and after almost three months I'm still working on the first can. Quick spray and rinse of my masks soft parts, hang it up to dry, and I'm done. No residual fragrance, leaves it squeaky clean.

I used to clean my hose and water tank every day, but after reading a lot of posts here and switching to distilled water, I haven't cleaned either of them for about 6 weeks now with no problem. No gunky build up at all. I do sometimes take my hose off and hang it up after it has gone through the "cool down" cycle...but then I don't even do that every day because I figure the cool down cycle air pretty much takes care of any residual moisture.

I was pretty obsessive at first, but have become more lackadaisical over time to where the only thing I ever really clean is the soft removable part of my mask.

Weezy

[robysue]

I use a one part white vinegar to ten parts water solution to clean the:

• nasal pillows daily
  humidifier chamber 2 or 3 times a week
  the hoses about once a week

I also handwash the grey washable filter in a bit of perfume-free, additive-free, bleach-free, dye-free laundry detergent once a week.

I hate the feel of silicone. So I keep everything in cozies from Pad-a-cheek. To keep things simple and to make it easier for myself, I've got duplicates hoses and duplicate filters. When stuff needs "cleaned," I swap a clean, dry item into the cozy and wash the "dirty" item and let it air dry until I'm ready to use it the next time. The hose cozies and the mask frame cozy get thrown in with the sheets whenever. I keep spare pillow barrel cozies around and hand wash them. They easily dry in a day, so I always have a clean dry barrel cozy to put the clean dry nasal pillows into when I'm putting the mask back together after taking the used pillows out of it in the morning.

[BrettAnd]

I use distilled water also so I don't have water problems. I also fabricate my own filters from better stuff than brand name pap suppliers sell. Every week or so I give everthing a good rinse with plain old Dawn dish soap. I preffer Ivory soap fpr my face, less soapy residue.

[Lizistired]

I put a drop or two of dish soap in a 24oz soda bottle, fill it with warm water and pour it into the hose while holding both ends over the sink. Flush it back and forth a few times, clean the pillows with the water coming out the hose. Then I slip the end of the hose over the faucet and rinse the whole thing with warm/hot water. Hang to dry.
I think taking it apart all the time to clean would probably make it fail faster.

[WestCoastCdnGrl]

I use the Nature Clean liquid dish soap on my mask (daily) and resevoir (weekly)... I put a bit of soap into my bathroom sink, fill it with warm water and swish the mask and resevoir around for about a minute or so, paying attention to the silicone pillow on the mask. I rinse well (also in warm) and give both the mask and the resevoir a good shake in the bath tub to get the excess water out before setting out to dry.

I am a sock knitter and use that same soap to wash my knit items, and figured that if it's good enough for 100% wool, it's probably good enough for my CPAP equipment as well.

Will probably try the Vinegar/Tap Water solution to sanitize the resevoir once a month... while I only use distilled water, I would feel better to give it a (monthly) rinse just to get anything that

I have most of the bottle of cleaning spray that my DME gave to me... am a little leery to use it, as I don't feel that it gives as good a cleaning as soap and water. Will keep it for use when I know that access to clean water may be a problem.

[sleeplessinaz]

Hi--I use Dr. Bronner's Natural Castile liquid soap to clean all my stuff. I clean my nasal pillows daily but I never clean the hose or anything else LOL! I use distilled water in the chamber and I top it off every other night with more distilled water. You can get the liquid soap at Target now--used to be only able to find it at Hi Health. I use the Peppermint

Carrie

[Muse-Inc]

Clean mask with Dawn.

Sanitize by spraying it with white vinegar (mask shell, pillows, oral cushion, humidifier tank) after washing and letting 'em sit for 2-3 mins then rinsing well...usually once a wk, more often if sick.

Exfoliate face by rubbing a fresh-cut grape & letting the juice sit for 3-5 mins, then wash face with DermaE's Papaya-Soy Facial Soap, followed by their Vitamin C+E Gel on the parts where the mask does not touch. Let dry for 10 mins before maskup.

[DadscreepyCPAPmask]

Baby Shampoo

[torontoCPAPguy]

Best to use non scented soap of which there are several avaialable - do a search online here. I bought a case of each so as never to run out. I also bought a case of hospital grade disinfectant and pour a half a cup into the soapy water each time. I wash the mask, the hose, the water reservoir weekly. The masks are actually more like every two or three weeks but I have four masks that I am susing in rotation - wash them when I'm in the mood and then toss them on a plush towel to air dry. Use a soft bristle pain brush to get into the fussy parts.

This is not merely a matter of preventing any deep lung infections which tend to kill you if you get them but also to prevent infections around the heart which lead to arhthmyas and Atrial Fibrillation according to the latest studies. If using a full face mask and mouth breathing, if you use any of those puffer/inhalers you can cause staff infection as well. It is not very common at all but why take the chance? And besides I don't like the gunk building up on my mask. It gets stinky after a while.

I find rotating the masks makes life easy... and sometimes I dont even bother withthe hard plastic parts and just do the silicone rubber stuff. Works for me. You DO want to wash out that water reservoir once ina while though. A great place for bacteria to form and get blown into your piehole.

[TheDreamer]

I use cpap wipes nightly...and on the weekend I take it apart and drop it in my ultrasonic cleaner....

With some masks, once in a while, I'll put the headgear through the wash on delicate....

The Dreamer

[desmondwl]

Hey Bret, what are you using to make filters with. I have been trying to find suitable material but so far have not been able to find anything I like.

desmondwl