Question about avoiding perspiration on face while taping...

snoozie_suzy · Post by **snoozie_suzy** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 3:15 pm

Hello All~
I have been mouth taping for almost a month now with great success. Now that it is full fledge summer weather here ( its almost 100 here today!) I have been experiencing leaks with the tape covering my mouth. I am using 2" 3M Nylon surgical tape. Just one big strip. The leaks are occurring the top and bottom of my lips, not the corners of my mouth. When it first occurred I thought perhaps it was saliva and then started to roll my lips inward. Then I realized after a couple days that there was NO moisture where my lips meet but the tape was leaking right at the top of the lips below the nares and below the lips where the chin indents slightly. I have been thoroughly washing my face and using astringent, and no moisturizer, I have the Air conditioner on in my room as well. I just don't know what to do. Because sometimes during the night my cheeks puff up with air and it causes the seal of the tape to lift in those 2 areas I described.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

Suzy

kurtchan · Post by **kurtchan** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 3:35 pm

Wow! 2" 3M tape? I didn't know it came that wide, which leads me to believe it might be part of the problem. I've been switching between .75" and 1" 3M tape and have had pretty good success with both. I've been accused all my life of having a "big mouth" and, as a professional opera singer, that's probably true, so I wonder whether the amount of tape that lapping over onto the skin of your face is actually what's been causing your leakage problems. No medical evidence to back it up, but the one part of me that I've never noticed sweating is my lips, so the perspiration on your skin may be wetting the tape and making it lose it's seal.

Linda3032 · Post by **Linda3032** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 4:11 pm

Lordy Girl, I didn't know it ever got that hot in Mass. .. We haven't hit 100 here in Arkansas yet this year.

Okay, what do your numbers look like? If they are still good, then I'd say you shouldn't worry about it too much.

But, with the heat and a full face mask, if you try turning your humidifier down you might get less dampness inside your mask. Then your tape might stick better.

snoozie_suzy · Post by **snoozie_suzy** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 7:36 pm

Linda3032 wrote:Lordy Girl, I didn't know it ever got that hot in Mass. .. We haven't hit 100 here in Arkansas yet this year.

No kidding Linda! That's what I say. I have lived here for 23 years and I lived near the ocean as a young girl and due to the coastal breeze I don't ever remember it getting this hot. Now I live inland a bit, and the past two summers we have reached record heatwaves that the meterologists say haven't come around since the early 1900s. Global warming probably. Last summer I even had a patient who had returned from Palm Beach FL and said it was hotter in Mass than in FL!!! Go figure. But yet on the otherhand we have blizzards that FL doesn't.

As far as the mask, I really don't use FF mask anymore, which is why I am taping. I don't use the heated humidifier either, just fill it with water and use it as "passover". But maybe I am using too wide of tape like the other poster suggested. I got some of this from the hospital I work at just to try out before I bought some.

Thanks for the tips from both of you guys!

Suzy

puffing billy · Post by **puffing billy** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 7:11 am

I use nasal pillows and I am a mouth breather, I didnt like the idea of tape and a chinstrap didnt work. I use a mandibular advancement device which is like a gumshield and this works brilliantly. I am told a $16 gumshield works too, but I have not tried one.

I hope the temperature drops as I arrive in Boston from England next week.
My son lives in NH and he reckoned it was 97 there yesterday.

billy

Ellen · Post by **Ellen** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 9:29 pm

I still stand by my NoseBreathe oral appliance - have 0000000 leaks and no muss, no fuss - mine is the one by Dr. Sue...................

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 10:48 pm

it is not just a matter of taping your mouth, you need to keep your tongue planted in the hard palate, it helps block the air from leaking, if you do you won't have all that puffing.