and THIS is why you don't tighten the mask too much!

At least you don't do it if you have psoriasis! I was having problems with leaks early last week, and kept strapping down harder and harder. (ok, I'm kind of stupid while asleep...) I got things back under control and loosened everything up, but a couple of days later got a psoriasis flare along the line where the mask strap goes on the neck. Well, at least I didn't do that to my face!

Almost looks like shingles......but, it's an unusual spot for that.

Nah, it's just psoriasis. Shingles is horrible, what I got there didn't hurt and barely itched. What happened is a typical thing -- psoriasis is an autoimmune disease where you are essentially allergic to your own skin cells. For reasons not well understood, an injury -- often a minor one -- will cause the immune system to swoop in and attack the skin for awhile. Just the irritation of the mask strap being too tight for a couple of nights was enough to pop that up. It's a weird disease, and not uncommon. About 5% of the population has it.

Anyway, one of the more valuable things that I have learned here is that if you are having to crank the mask really tight, there is something wrong. Wrong mask type, wrong size, putting it on wrong, something. If you are one of the 5% of the population walking around with the gene for psoriasis, this is just one more reason to figure out what's wrong and fix it rather than tightening up the straps.

Ahhhhhh, Man, total freak out.

Where are your eyes, nose, mouth, etc...

Thewino wrote:Ahhhhhh, Man, total freak out.

Where are your eyes, nose, mouth, etc...

presumably on the other side of her head.

I'll bet adding a pad-a-cheek liner would help prevent that from occurring.

when I get stupid and over-tighten my straps, my TMJ flares up... fortunately, it's only happend 1 or 2 times in 2 1/2 years of CPAP therapy.

It made my hair break off in spots, ooh, the agony!
Edit, my sister in law, who has psoriasis, found that the Moist Hemp skin lotion
from Sally Beauty Supply works better on dry flaky patches than any pricey RX stuff.

Could be an allergic reaction.

My strap is not hypoallergenic and it makes my scalp itch. I cut up a washed cotton sock, to make sure there are no residues left on the cotton from manufacturing. I place the cotton strip between my strap and scalp and the problem cleared up.

It might work for you.

chunkyfrog wrote:It made my hair break off in spots, ooh, the agony!
Edit, my sister in law, who has psoriasis, found that the Moist Hemp skin lotion
from Sally Beauty Supply works better on dry flaky patches than any pricey RX stuff.

Costco also has a hydrocordisone-based (with aloe, etc.) ointment that works very well for me. Comes in a 4-tube pack, for less than $10, quite cheap compared to Cortizone-10 at the store, less than a quarter of the price.

My hair actually provides a pretty thick cushion between the strap and my neck. Weirdly enough, I had a perm on Dec 9th, and of course for the first week or so the headgear was smashing the residue of perm chemicals into my neck -- and I had no problems at all!

Psoriasis is a weird disease. One thing you can count on -- just when you think it can't get any stranger, it does!