No marks from mask, but mark all day from chinstrap!

[Tigerlily]

Hey everyone,
I'm using this chinstrap - https://www.cpap.com/productpage/respir ... .html.html with my Swift FX nasal pillows. It appears I can't train myself to stop mouth breathing. So, I appear to be stuck having to deal with a chinstrap.

Well, after a year of experimenting with masks and having various issues including bad red marks, that is now not a problem with my current mask. I have no marks whatsoever from mask or headgear.

I DO however, have marks on the side of my face and bad red lines under my chin that stay ALL day long and people notice them. I have pretty sensitive skin and marks can stay a very, very long time on me.

If I loosen the chinstrap to avoid marks, it does absolutely nothing! To have it effective, I have to have it tight, which in turn gives me the nasty marks that I dislike so much.

This is the only chinstrap I have tried. Are there other ones that will not cause red marks? Or that are effective without having to be so tight?

[JDS74]

Tigerlily:

Perhaps you are having an allergic reaction to the fabric coating on this particular strap.
Have you tried inserting a piece of very soft flannel or other fabric between you and the strap to see if that helps?

[dcheddar]

I use that exact same chinstrap, and I was also getting red lines under my chin.
I wasn't sure if the lines were coming from the edges of the chinstrap, or the raised line of stitching in the center of the chin cup.
I put a piece of padding in the chin cup, and the lines went away.
The padding could be almost anything. I use a half-sheet of paper towel, folded twice. Works great.
A piece of soft cloth would be even nicer.

Dan

[Tigerlily]

Yes, it is a line from the edge under my chin in the soft extra skin I have.
I also get small marks on the sides of my cheeks, but they go away fairly quickly. I will try to find some soft cloth to pad with.

[TheDuke]

I second the comment from TigerLily-I experienced irritation and actual swelling from contact under my chin with one otherwise excellent chinstrap that had a rather heavily textured surface. My wife made a "slipcover" for the strap sewed from an old tee-shirt that relieved the irritation. I did find that after repeated washings of the strap the irritating behavior went away. That strap was literally a strap of wide heavy fabric with Velcro ends to secure it around my head. I'm not certain if there was some sort of chemical residue in the strap fabric or whether the repeat washing softened the surface.

TheDuke

[Tigerlily]

I put a piece of a very soft t-shirt under the edge under my chin and it didn't prevent the mark the first night. The second night it did, but only because I had the chinstrap looser.

I'm wondering if trying a different chinstrap would make a difference? I'm thinking of the ruby red chinstrap.

Anyone here use it who tends to get marks, skin sensitive, gets red easily? If so, do you have problems with the ruby red?

[chunkyfrog]

I had red marks from the edges of the Ruby adjustable;
consequently, I sold it for half price after only two nights of misery.

[MitzyG]

a layer of micro fleece helped me. I got it from the remnant bin for cheap.