Does anyone else use an eye mask to prevent leaks?

[lrob123]

I use a ResMed AirFit F20 full face mask and love it (for the most part).

But to prevent leaking near my eyes, I wear an eye mask every night. It creates a sealed area above the mask which prevents an airflow over my (closed eyes). There is some air trapped there but it stays there. With the eye mask, I don't have to tighten my mask too much which would bother me, and even if I do tighten the upper straps, without the eye mask I still get some leakage. Maybe it is needed due to the shape of my face. I don't recall seeing others here on cpaptalk suggest using an eye mask to prevent leaks. I almost never have large leaks or (non baseline) leaks showing in Oscar.

I look ridiculous at night with my full face mask, my cervical collar, and eye mask (but who cares). I'm only embarrassed if I share a hotel room with someone who doesn't use CPAP, my husband doesn't care at home or else he is too polite to make fun of me.

To top it all off and make me look even sillier, I sleep with headphones on every night (and a sleep timer on my iPhone). I like to listen to podcasts as I fall asleep and I have to sleep on my back anyway due to a back injury so headphones don't get in the way. I think a sleep timer is essential if you do this, I don't think I sleep well if I have audio on all night (unless maybe it was white noise). I turn on the podcast again if I wake up to an alert state at night, it really works to help me avoid worrying about things. Maybe it isn't great if the podcast mentions Covid or Trump (which could be upsetting), but that still works better than letting my mind repeat in a loop on my own worries or to-do list.

[TiredGuy009]

no I dont, what kind of eye masks do you use ?

And hey dont be embarrassed

[sosotired]

Ditto on the eye mask. I get just enough leak around my eyes to be annoying. When I wear an eye mask, I can completely ignore it.

I sometimes feel like a mummy wrapped up with my cervical collar, cpap mask, and eye mask.

Regards,

Dave

[Goofproof]

I use a ResMed AirFit F20 full face mask and love it (for the most part).

But to prevent leaking near my eyes, I wear an eye mask every night. It creates a sealed area above the mask which prevents an airflow over my (closed eyes). There is some air trapped there but it stays there. With the eye mask, I don't have to tighten my mask too much which would bother me, and even if I do tighten the upper straps, without the eye mask I still get some leakage. Maybe it is needed due to the shape of my face. I don't recall seeing others here on cpaptalk suggest using an eye mask to prevent leaks. I almost never have large leaks or (non baseline) leaks showing in Oscar.

I look ridiculous at night with my full face mask, my cervical collar, and eye mask (but who cares). I'm only embarrassed if I share a hotel room with someone who doesn't use CPAP, my husband doesn't care at home or else he is too polite to make fun of me.

To top it all off and make me look even sillier, I sleep with headphones on every night (and a sleep timer on my iPhone). I like to listen to podcasts as I fall asleep and I have to sleep on my back anyway due to a back injury so headphones don't get in the way. I think a sleep timer is essential if you do this, I don't think I sleep well if I have audio on all night (unless maybe it was white noise). I turn on the podcast again if I wake up to an alert state at night, it really works to help me avoid worrying about things. Maybe it isn't great if the podcast mentions Covid or Trump (which could be upsetting), but that still works better than letting my mind repeat in a loop on my own worries or to-do list.

Maybe a podcast of Flapping ButterFly wings would be soothing. Jim

[booksfan]

I was so happy when I started using the Bleep...no straps or headgear! Then my dry eye got even WORSE (I can't imagine how, it was awful already!) and I had to start wearing a silcone eye mask to protect them at night! One of my problems is that my eyelids don't always fully close at night, so the silicone helps maintain moisture. But now I have a strap again. I know what you mean about looks. I don't care and neither does my husband, but I had to explain to my granddaughters about the eye shields and show them (they knew about the CPAP), so they wouldn't get scared if they woke up during the middle of the night during sleepovers and came in to find a bug-eyed grammy with an elephant trunk!

[lrob123]

> no I dont, what kind of eye masks do you use ?

TiredGuy009, I think any type of sleep eye mask would work (e.g. the kind you wear on airplanes). But I don't think I'm using the same type of eye mask as 'booksfan' because she says she wears a silicone eye mask that helps keep her eyes closed so her eyemask must sort of rest on her eyelids or very near them.

The eye masks I use are just regular sleep eye masks and they don't touch my eyelids, because the bottom edge of the eye mask rests on top of (overlaying) the top part of my AirFit F20 full face CPAP mask and the top edge of the eye mask rests on my forehead. The eyemask isn't tight at all and there is a big space under the eye mask. Simply having the top of the eye mask lightly touching my forehead stops air from flowing across my closed eyes or forehead.

I've worn sleep eyemasks for years before CPAP anyway just because I tend to sleep in late and don't want the morning light to wake me up. But with CPAP, I have another really important reason to wear one.

I think any sleep mask will work (e.g. in travel section at Target or Walmart), but I am sort of picky about eyemasks and only like ones that are flannel on both sides.

I'll put in a plug for my favorite eyemask seller on ebay: onetwothreejump. Here is an example of one of her masks:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mens-Sleep-Mas ... 0008.m2219

This seller gives you a choice (for many of her styles) on whether you want warm flannel, T-shirt (cotton knit) material, or satiny material on the inside and I always pick flannel. I think satin is 'cold' and not as pleasant, I prefer cozy.

Actually she makes her masks by default thicker and more padded than she used to which I don't like, so lately when buying more I send her a note to please make the mask as thin as possible like she used to, no padding or extra inner layers. So essentially she custom makes them for me. She has several sizes to pick from but you can send her the dimensions if you want something special.

I've often given these eye masks as Christmas gifts, but perhaps the recipients may think it is a weird gift because not everyone likes sleep masks or is picky about whether it is flannel.

sleep_mask.png (232.52 KiB) Viewed 940 times

[lrob123]

booksfan said:
> I was so happy when I started using the Bleep...no straps or headgear!

Wow, I just looked at the Bleep CPAP mask and it looks cool. It is unfortunate that nasal masks don't work that well for me because I'm a mouth breather, but someday I might buy one of those 'Bleep' masks if I ever go on a long plane ride overseas again (assuming I buy a travel CPAP), just in case I want to sleep on a plane. It would be less embarrassing and nerdy looking than my full face mask. People will assume I'm wearing an eyemask and cervical collar just to sleep on the plane, they won't know I actually have to wear the cervical collar every night to keep my jaw in place for apnea.

I haven't traveled across the ocean since being on CPAP for 3 years so I don't yet own any travel mini-size (rechargeable?) CPAP machine yet.
Sometime I plan to search for or start a thread on what type of battery backup to buy for power outages, I've been living dangerously with no battery backup for 3 years. I guess I assumed in a night-time power outage, I'd live without CPAP or go to a hotel if need be. Most of our power outages seem to happen in the daytime when workman are digging nearby and accidentally cut a wire.

On second thought, I just realized that almost everyone looks nerdy on a plane nowadays when wearing their Covid masks (but I'm grateful they are wearing those for the sake of everyone's health). Darn it, I can't let myself daydream about long plane rides or overseas vacations now, maybe I'll have to wait a couple years until this Covid-19 thing passes before I'll risk that. I don't know how a Covid mask would work along with a CPAP mask, but I guess I don't have to figure that out since I won't be flying in the near future.

[booksfan]

'booksfan' because she says she wears a silicone eye mask that helps keep her eyes closed so her eyemask must sort of rest on her eyelids or very near them.

Actually the silicone eye mask PROTECTS my eyes in case they open too far, it doesn't keep my eyelids close or rest on them. It maintains moisture and prevents my pillow from rubbing on the actual eyeball as I am a stomach/side sleeper. It rests on my cheekbones and browbones and has a domed surface over the eye. I am attaching a picture. It is a bit discolored, as it IS silicone and almost 6 months old.

[b01000100]

I use a face mask for cold-weather motorcycle riding when I sleep. I break out really bad anywhere headgear touches my head (just the straps, not the cushion). I have tried several brands and models of masks, and I always break out really bad. I always wash my face before bed, and it still happens. While I was grabbing some new riding gloves one day, I walked by the cold-weather gear in the shop I was in and saw a really thin mask that only had eye cutouts. I grabbed one to try it.

It was perfect. Instead of sewing covers for my headgear like I was, I could just throw on the riding mask - then throw on the CPAP mask. In addition to it preventing me from breaking out, it also seemed to help with leaks around my beard. The mask itself was pretty thin, so I didn't expect much from it, but I had fewer leaks around my beard, no leaks around my eyes if I twisted in an odd way, and had no more breakouts.

I no longer have the beard--and I didn't pay attention to stats back then--so I can't really say if it was all in my head, but it seemed much better with the riding mask. I ended up going back and buying 10 of them. I grab a new one each night and have backups for if they ever wear out. Several years on, and I haven't had to replace one yet.

[Julie]

But you're not going to tell others here the name of the things? Or where to get them? Not fair!

[b01000100]

But you're not going to tell others here the name of the things? Or where to get them? Not fair!

My fault. I looked when I was posting so that I could provide a link, but the place I bought them from doesn't sell them anymore. All of the ones I have are missing tags and I couldn't find a similar item from them. In looking around, I believe they are made by the company Oxford Products.

Here is something that is similar but not it exactly. It might work, but I can't vouch for it:

https://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/oxf ... -balaclava

Also, I don't know anything about revzilla; I just found that mask there, and it was a good image of it. The masks I use are like a t-shirt material. My plan, when I get down to my last mask, is to make some of my own with regular t-shirt material. Based on how these have been holding up, I am hopeful that won't be for a while yet.

[Luke35]

To top it all off and make me look even sillier, I sleep with headphones on every night (and a sleep timer on my iPhone). I like to listen to podcasts as I fall asleep and I have to sleep on my back anyway due to a back injury so headphones don't get in the way. I think a sleep timer is essential if you do this, I don't think I sleep well if I have audio on all night (unless maybe it was white noise). I turn on the podcast again if I wake up to an alert state at night, it really works to help me avoid worrying about things.

I enjoy listening to podcasts as I go to sleep also. I usually sleep with wireless earbuds so that I don't disturb my wife, but can still roll over onto my side. I often wake up with one or both having fallen out. Sometimes I intentionally remove them, but am not awake enough to have the sense to put them on my nightstand. But that is still better than the times in the first six months of CPAP therapy when I was removing my mask at night and tossing it to the floor! I usually didn't remember doing it.

[lrob123]

Thanks, booksfan, Luke, and b01000100.

Booksfan, what is the name/model of your silicone mask, and do you have a link where to buy it?

b01000100, did you cut a hole or holes in your riding (balaclava) mask (since it only has eye holes)? If you did not create any new holes in for nose/mouth, are you inhaling and exhaling through this material and the air from the CPAP coming through it? What type of mask do you use, and is it full face or nasal?

[chunkyfrog]

"I use a face mask for cold-weather motorcycle riding when I sleep."
I had to think, "what a neat trick--how does he keep from falling off the bike?
I understood the meaning, but still had to giggle.

[b01000100]

Thanks, booksfan, Luke, and b01000100.

Booksfan, what is the name/model of your silicone mask, and do you have a link where to buy it?

b01000100, did you cut a hole or holes in your riding (balaclava) mask (since it only has eye holes)? If you did not create any new holes in for nose/mouth, are you inhaling and exhaling through this material and the air from the CPAP coming through it? What type of mask do you use, and is it full face or nasal?

I just breathe right through it. The material is really thin and doesn't bother me. It is stretched a bit already from putting it on, and the CPAP mask going over it kind of locks that area in. I am not quite sure how to describe it, but there is a little bubble of fabric that forms over my nose and mouth.

I am currently using a ResMed Airfit F10 mask, but I have used others with the riding mask just fine. I haven't used any of the nasal masks with it, but I'd imagine they would work as well. The material is super thin.