Nostril irritation from pillows: suggestions beyond Lansinoh

Hi folks,

New user here and I'm getting irritated nostrils, largely at the bottom of my nares on each side. It's irritating enough that it's waking me up at night and stinging for a while after I stop and take the nose pillows out.

Searched here and found the suggestion to use Lansonoh lanolin ointment and that's helped a little bit but hasn't eliminated the problem. I've checked the fit of the pillows and believe I'm using the right size, and loosened the head straps a bit to make sure the contact pressure wasn't too much.

Other ideas? Should I expect my nostrils to slowly toughen up a bit?

Not whether to see if time fixes it or do some experimenting with different pillows.Thanks!!

Maybe the Padacheek barrel cozy?
Feels like silk against the skin on the nostrils....super comfy. I bought it a while back during the winter to help with rain out issues (before the heated hose became available to me) and ended up using it year round just because it felt so nice against my skin.
At the time I discovered it...best money I ever spent on a comfort item.. Feb 2011 it was...and I still have it...looks like hell now but still works and feels the same. I have modified it a bit to fit on a different nasal pillow.

http://www.padacheek.com/PACSwiftII_Barrel_cozy.html

I was warned it could take two to three weeks for my nares to "toughen up." Lansinoh helped reduce irritation overnight, but I had pimples all over my nares for about a week, requiring hot compresses and neosporin during the day. I also found that as long as I cleaned the pillows promptly in the am, and cleaned my face and applied a TINY amount of Lansinoh or non-petro ointment before bed, it eliminated the breakouts. This week I've been a little lax and guess what? My septum is irritated and likely festering a pimple as we speak :-\

Thanks folks – I definitely think the pillows themselves and not the base that the cozy above goes around.

My nostrils are sore enough that I'm trying to figure out how to balance the wait-and-toughen-them-up idea against the get-them-so-irritated-that-they-don't-calm down idea.

Keep the good ideas coming!

RicaLynn wrote:I was warned it could take two to three weeks for my nares to "toughen up." Lansinoh helped reduce irritation overnight, but I had pimples all over my nares for about a week, requiring hot compresses and neosporin during the day. I also found that as long as I cleaned the pillows promptly in the am, and cleaned my face and applied a TINY amount of Lansinoh or non-petro ointment before bed, it eliminated the breakouts. This week I've been a little lax and guess what? My septum is irritated and likely festering a pimple as we speak :-\

Your nose sounds a bit like mine...easy to get those little whitehead zit like things right around the nostrils.
You might also look at the barrel cozy or something similar. The material will help absorb any excess facial oils that could be adding to the zit problem. Here I am 62 years old and only real facial oil problem I have is nose/nostrils and chin...and still get zits there...damn.

I need to see if Karen is working on a cozy for the P10...it's a little different with where the vent holes are placed and is going to need a little design change so those vent holes aren't covered.
I modified my old barrel cozy so that it would still stay on the pillows and not cover the holes but it took a little bit of modification.

Sibbs wrote:Thanks folks – I definitely think the pillows themselves and not the base that the cozy above goes around.

If you think it's for sure the pillows themselves actually in the nostril edge...try a different size. Sometimes with a different size the pillow doesn't tend to move as much and lessens any movement abrasion kind of thing that might be going on.

Also...don't be afraid to try a different nasal pillow mask...sometimes its the angle of the pillow and where it touches that is the problem. Different nasal pillows have different angles in terms of fitting.

Same problem, different solution.
I switched to nasal mask. Among my favorites, the Sleepweaver Elan and the Wisp.
It seems no single mask keeps me happy indefinitly. But I sometimes return to an old favorite and I am happy for a while.

First, I think the Lanisoh is OK for helping the result of the irritation heal faster, but I think it doesn't really help reduce the actual irritation when it is happening. They have a really specific customer base (or so they think). They should consider us SA sufferers as a new, expanded customer base, but maybe they just haven't discovered us yet the way we have discovered their product.

I tried some Oragel there, with no real improvement (sure works wonders for hemmorhoids though).

But I had a similar issue at first, on just one nostril. Using the Swift FX, I found that moving to the larger pillows meant that the interior cone, which is harder and stiffer, no longer dug into my nostrils, because it is farther inside the outer pillow part. I also had the thing too tight, which aggravated the situation. It is not all that intuitive, and the DME tech was not much help, but I discovered that with no air flow, the right tightness feels really loose, but that is OK because it is the air flow that keeps the pillows pressed/inflated against your nostrils, and having the mask tight enough to do that with no air flow is, well, too tight.

But your pillows may be made differently.

I switched from a nasal mask to pillows. I had to switch back and forth from nasal to pillows as I toughened up. If you can get a nasal mask in addition to your pillows that might help. I would sometimes only wear my pillows for a few hours and then switch back. Now I love my Swift FX.

Be sure to not overtighten the pillows. The idea is to get the headgear to hold the mask close and let the air pressure inflate the pillows into your nose.

RicaLynn wrote: Lansinoh helped reduce irritation overnight, but I had pimples all over my nares for about a week, requiring hot compresses and neosporin during the day. I also found that as long as I cleaned the pillows promptly in the am, and cleaned my face and applied a TINY amount of Lansinoh or non-petro ointment before bed, it eliminated the breakouts.

Now that a day has passed like you I have a whole bunch of tiny pimples at the base of my nares and they're quite inflamed and painful.

Can't tell if this is from the Lansinoh clogging pores or the nasal pillows themselves. Sigh.

It's not the Lansinoh, mine happened before I'd learned about that trick. It's unfortunately a part of the process, but you will get through it! Use hot compresses and antibacterial ointment (I prefer homeopathics so I used emu oil and lavender essential oil) several times through the day today, don't forget to clean the entire pillow, and just stick to it.

Have you considered trying a nasal mask in place of the pillows ?

Sibbs wrote:

RicaLynn wrote: Lansinoh helped reduce irritation overnight, but I had pimples all over my nares for about a week, requiring hot compresses and neosporin during the day. I also found that as long as I cleaned the pillows promptly in the am, and cleaned my face and applied a TINY amount of Lansinoh or non-petro ointment before bed, it eliminated the breakouts.

Now that a day has passed like you I have a whole bunch of tiny pimples at the base of my nares and they're quite inflamed and painful.

Can't tell if this is from the Lansinoh clogging pores or the nasal pillows themselves. Sigh.

Hopefully you have the right size pillows, it does sound like that is the problem - have you tried the next size up? Any movement will be amplified each time you take a breath (hundereds of times each nite) and that will cause irritation.

Also any water (rainout/condensation) bubbling all night long will irritate the skin where it makes contact. Think about how many times the water is rubbing the skin.

Using an anitbiotic ointment will not damage the pillows.

Thanks for the continued help!

I tried going up a size, but the L size pillows are too big to even get into my nostrils-- I don't think it's a fit / vibration issue. If anything, going down a size may help.

I have bad TMJ and am doing all I can to avoid having the nasal or full face mask straps go over my joint or masseter.

Take a look at the Resmed Swift FX Nano nasal cushion and see if you think those straps would be a problem for your TMJ issues.

Take a look at the Respironics Wisp nasal cushion...it's made very similar to the Nano cushion part but the headgear may not appeal to you. If you think it might work..I have a new Wisp you can have for cost of postage to ship...comes with all sizes of cushions.

The Nano ....if it interests you...that headgear will also accommodate the Swift FX nasal pillows. Now I don't know if they would be similar enough to the P10 to cause those pimple issues but might be worth a try to see if they don't cause the problem. I sometimes get what you are experiencing but to a lesser degree..maybe one pimple/zit/whitehead gone bad and I don't use Lansinoh any more...nostrils no longer tender so don't need it.
If you get the Nano....I have some spare new nasal pillows you can have to try with the Nano gear...they fit just fine...again for cost of postage only which isn't much.
The reason ask for postage...I ship out donated stuff often and postage ads up. If someone doesn't have postage..that's okay I will still ship but I can't do that for everybody. So if a person can reimburse postage I appreciate it because it helps me be able to maybe help the next person who doesn't have it.

I personally had great luck with the Nano and didn't have such good luck with the Wisp but it was due to a little quirk I have so I am not really dissing the Wisp...it just didn't work out for me.