Liberty Nasal Pillows not Sealing

soulrhythm wrote:I have also had these same problems with the Liberty, but when it worked, I really liked it. So I kept working with it and now think I have found a system that has resoved it all for me.

For the elbow I routed my tube up above my head by sewing in some velcro to the headgear (see pic below). For nasal pillow leaks (and subsequent hiss), I have found four things that made the difference for me, and have now had two weeks with under a .2 leak rate.

1. Wash mask daily with a mild, Moisturizer free soap
2. Wash face right before bed with same soap.
3. Add a strip of flexible medical tap across the tip of the nose to the upper cheeks to hold pillows in place
4. I small piece of Mac's silicon in the center of the tape sealing the gap between the two nasal pillows.

Hope this helps.

JIM



_________________

Am I the only one who thinks that there is something seriously wrong with a system that allows this product to sell for $250 while being held together with the modern equivalent of bailing wire or duct tape?

Susan

I got a liberty from my DME and I hated it for all the reasons above.

I can use it if I'm on my side, but then it feels like my nares are being pushed in by two fingers all night. The nasal pillow stalks for all sizes are identical in height and are all too long. When I wake up in the morning, it feels like someone jammed my nose with the palm of his hand. It's quite painful.

If I sleep on my back, it leaks out my cheeks. If I open my mouth and let the pressure hold my mouth open, it seals well, but then my mouth dries out like cotton toweling and I feel like a chipmunk. If my mouth is closed and I touch my finger to the mask to hold it down it stops. I can't sleep that way though. No amount of strap pulling past comfort seems to stop it from leaking, and my wife will freak if I wear cut pantyhose over my head. (Code for: I might freak too.)

The hose entry blows right on your lips, so you end up with gray ash on your lips in the morning from dry lips, regardless of whether your lips are sealed. That doesn't happen with the ultra full face. Why so with the liberty?

The liberty large and small are identical in width. I tried them both. The difference is in the height of the mouth opening. The larger one worked better for me because the little one allowed me to drop my lower lip below the seal too easily. I wear a medium standard in an ultra full face - which is again the same width as either liberty, but doesn't have the same problems. If they would just make a wider large instead of just a taller large, I wonder if it would make a difference. (It would also be nice to get short-stalked nasal pillows.)

The price for this mask is outrageous. I hate that my DME wouldn't let me get my money back even though it was less than a week. Why don't they use loaners? They'd get better feedback about what works. Why don't they have a cot where you could lay down and see what it's like on your back and on your side?

I traded it in for an ultra full face, which has it's own problems. It still leaks, but not as badly. I keep it because I want to be able to take a break sometimes from the swift - which seems for me the most comfortable. It would be nice if I have a cold to have some sort of fall-back, and ultra ff is going to have to be it for now.

I don't like the right-angle swivel attachment on either the liberty or the ultra full face. You have to fiddle with the hose every time you turn over so it won't be in a position that will put pressure on the connection. It should be a full arc swivel that allows the hose to travel in any direction on a whim.

I'm just waiting for the ultra ff to break, it seems so flimsy. It also makes these annoying clickety noises any time you move, like the elbow connector is not seated properly, but I can see that it is. It's just a noisy, clickety mask.

Having dealt with these other masks after having used a swift, I can see now why people have so much trouble making this therapy regime work. You can never get into the right sleeping position to get real therapy, and forget trying to move when you finally find a comfortable working position. Argh!