Eye irritation

Wistful · Post by **Wistful** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 7:58 am

I slept until 5:30 with my mask - First time, Yay! I am very excited.

Unfortunately I woke up with red eyes, which means air (from the exhaust or a leak) got me. I picked up drops for them and will watch to make sure it doesn't turn into conjunctivitis. Are there any tricks I should know?

Thanks!

brackstone · Post by **brackstone** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:12 am

Wistful wrote:I slept until 5:30 with my mask - First time, Yay! I am very excited.

Unfortunately I woke up with red eyes, which means air (from the exhaust or a leak) got me. I picked up drops for them and will watch to make sure it doesn't turn into conjunctivitis. Are there any tricks I should know?

Thanks!

If these leaks are large enough you should be concerned about not receiving the proper therapy. I would be less concerned about your eyes and worrying more about proper mask fitting.

I think this is especially uncommon with a nasal pillow. Someone else can correct me but eye leakage with a nasal pillow would imply complete dislodgement of one of the PAP pillow from one of the nostril cavities correct?

_________________

CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): nasal pillow

Linda3032 · Post by **Linda3032** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:29 am

I doubt that it's a mask leak; more likely a tear duct leak. If you do a search for "tear duct", you will find several threads in the last few months regarding this problem. Here is one of them:

viewtopic.php?p=135847&highlight=tear+duct#135847

Wistful · Post by **Wistful** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:10 am

Ok, that's just freaky. I read the posts and you're right it does sound like that, allthough I would much rather it was a leak. My eyes are just aching and I got up 7 1/2 hours ago. I didn't find much on what I could do about it. I do take a decongestant before going to bed and the total face mask wouldn't work for me as I can'd get a nasal mask not to leak.

Any ideas?

brackstone · Post by **brackstone** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 12:47 pm

Wistful wrote:Ok, that's just freaky. I read the posts and you're right it does sound like that, allthough I would much rather it was a leak. My eyes are just aching and I got up 7 1/2 hours ago. I didn't find much on what I could do about it. I do take a decongestant before going to bed and the total face mask wouldn't work for me as I can'd get a nasal mask not to leak.

Any ideas?

Well Ironically I find it easier to get the full face mask to not leak. It's much more well supports in my opinion, however, if you have that tear duct leak that won't solve the problem.

I remember I had a friend that could squirt milk out of his eye, very disturbing *yuck*. I'd probably talk to a ENT or a GP and see if they can determine if that is truthfully your problem or not.

Linda3032 · Post by **Linda3032** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 2:48 pm

Yuckie is right. I don't know if I have the problem or not. My eyes are always tired and the lids are puffy. And I get a broken blood vessel in one of them quite often (yes, I've seen an opthamologist - nothing to be done).

I just turn the pressure down on my machine a bit and live with it. I always just thank my lucky stars because I know it could be much worse. ...

Wistful · Post by **Wistful** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 3:06 pm

I found this on google's sleep disorder support group:
Read it if you like and let me know if you have any thoughts.

" have a tear duct problem. The only dr. that has given me any help
is an ophthalmic specializing in lacrimal problems. The only
medication that has worked is Fluorometholone (sp?). It handles
inflamation, not infection. A dr. for this purpose is very hard to
find, or that's the way it seems to me. Surgery is the final solution
if the medication doesn't work. The problem is aggravated by the
CPAP. A humidifier makes it worse. The theory is that the eye is
covered by the gloop needed to keep the eye clean. The gloop needs to
exit the eye and does this by leaving via the tear duct. From the
tear duct it goes through the nasal duct and exits in the nose. The
CPAP provides air under pressure. So.....the air can enter the exit
of the nasal duct, go to the tear duct and prevent the exit of
anything in the eye. In essence, the process is reversed. If a
humidifier is added water is added to the air and it does bubble. If
the humidifier is turned high it can cause intense tearing in the eye,
enough that the eye will drip. I used to hear mine dripping on the
mask. The best so-so solution for me has been to fiddle with the
humidifier until I got it on a setting that seems to kind of work.
It's the lowest setting that my humidifier has. I found a dr. by
phoning a large hospital and requesting a dr. specializing in this
field. They had ONE. I use an ultra mirage mask. Oh yes, just one
more thing........the eye dr. that I now go to was so knowedgeable
about sleep apnea that it surprised me, so I finally asked how he knew
so much about it. He said that as a lacrimal specialist he found that
a great many of his patients had sleep apnea, used a CPAP, usually
with a humidifier, and most of them had lacrimal problems. So, I
think it may not be terribly unusually. It is just difficult to get a
diagnosis for it......Mary Rae "

Caffy · Post by **Caffy** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 3:16 pm

Wistful, I can feel your pain. I have an air leak
in my right eye/duct. Have constant conjunctivitis
and dry eye problems. Good Luck to you. The
people here are so wonderful and helpful.

Eye irritation

Eye irritation

Re: Eye irritation