PAD A CHEEK Nose Bridge thickness pad trial results here

Snort, the correct term is "seamstress"

Yes, as I reread my post I see my mistake. It was an honest mistake and one of those duhh moments for me. What I don't understand is why you would find it necessary to correct me in a public forum when I'm sure most people knew what I meant. I can't think of any reason to do this to someone other than meanness. I hope it made you feel better to call attention to my error. It made me feel humiliated and stupid. I'm just glad the majority of people on here are friendly and nice and truly want to help people with their apnea issues and not grammatical ones.

slapmeawake - I agree with you. When I read that I thought it was a totally uncalled for and insensitive remark to be made anywhere, least of all on a public forum.

You shouldn't feel humiliated and stupid. The person who posted that remark should feel humiliated and stupid.

To the poster of that remark - "If that's all you can say, don't say anything!"

Thank you Hawthorne for your kindness. It is much appreciated and made me feel better.

To Slapmeawake,
Don't let the grammar or spelling police get you down. We all knew what you meant. Besides, sewer actually can and does refer to "one that sews"...... the pronunciation is with the long "o" sound and different than the drainage pipe pronunciation. So you were really quite correct and there is no need at all to think any differently.

Thank you also Pugsy, now I don't feel so dumb and its good to know I actually used the term correctly.

Slapmeawake,

I am a sewer. My sister is a seamstress. I would never call myself a seamstress, although I can and do sew. You didn't make a mistake, and even if you had ( and who doesn't?), it would not have mattered a bit to most of us.

As far as the nose bridge protectors, I have been using the thick navy blue one for some time. I'm not sure if it is the same as the ones in this trial. I used the thinner, royal blue one in the hospital, and although it didn't leak, it wouldn't stay tucked in the way the heavier one did.

I could not stand the pain on my nose bridge before I got these protectors. I had a red, raw swolen nose every morning. The pain lasted all day. They make the difference between open sores and just pressure marks. The other thing that I did to make the Activa tolerable is to trim the silicone. THe thin part that goes over the bridge of the nose is way too narrow to go over my nose. I trimmed it with sharp scissors in desperation in the middle of the night, one night, and it has fit much better since. Now the nose bridge protector also protects me from my not so neat trimming. Thank you so much, Karen.

Now, if only I could stop the leaks in the lower corners of the Activa.

Bev

I have to agree with Komodo's earlier suggestion - modify the forehead part to mount with velcro straps. It's a pain to undo the comfortgel straps and get it just right again.

The thinnest pad worked for me, but the others gave me eye leaks. I have been using small/round band-aids on my nose, but the pad worked just as well. I wasn't too surprised that I had eye leaks with the thicker pads b/c I get the same leaks sometimes even without the pads.

Thanks to Karen for my being able to participate in this new product trial! There are a number of excellent reports here; and my experience was similar to several of those.

I used the Standard (thinnest) nose bridge pad first, for 4 nights. My UMFFM did not have a place that I could find to “tuck up” the nose bridge flap inside the mask. So for the first night, I had that flap blowing in the breeze inside of my mask, tickling my nose and waking me at times. When I pulled the flap up from the outside, I then traded the tickling for eye leaking. However, on the second night I found that I could comfortably notch down the bridge setting of my mask to be a tad snugger due to this fabric layer. This eliminated the eye leaking, and really did eliminate the soreness on the bridge of my nose, despite the snugger mask setting at the bridge! By the last night, I did trim just the length of the flap by about ¾” so that I can use it without hiking it up—and without eye leaks. Yay!

Despite trying the royal blue (medium thickness) pad for 4 nights, and attempting to slightly trim the narrowest part over the bridge….I could never get this one to stop eye leaks which woke me at times, although my leak rate never rose above the ideal manufacturers rate for my pressure. Interrupted sleep, however, is not what we want. So although I really thought the medium would be the best protective thickness for my nose bridge, I couldn’t get it to work.

The 2-sided Blue-Gray pad is interesting, and I would love to know the thinking that Karen put into the choice of sandwiching 2 different materials. I wish it had worked, but there was no way. I had more eye leaking with this one than with either of the other two, and trimming did not help to reduce this.

Someone mentioned creating a sandwich of tapered layers with a small thicker center to go over the nose bridge. I think that’s an intriguing idea, and one that occurred to me as well when I was struggling with the thicker pads because the thicker edges were clearly causing the leaks. This would likely be way too labor-intensive to be worthwhile, but something to think about.

Finally, I would like to say that although the forehead brace never really bothered me in terms of pressure…I totally love the addition of the forehead pad! It just takes away that sort of slimy feel of the silicone on skin, and is so much more comfortable! Thanks Karen. I love your stuff!

I'm relatively new to CPAP (and just registered on the boards) and am experiencing some severe nose pains, including developing a rather notable scabbed up ridge on the bridge of my nose. Such a product sounds like a wonderful thing. Where can I sign up?

Brian,

YOu can check out her products on her website:

http://padacheeks.com/

It makes all the difference!

Bev

Ok, now I feel like I have been doing this long enough to relate my experience. Before starting the trial, I had been rotating three different masks to avoid irritating the same spots over and over. But I started using the (liberty mask--Nope. Not that one.) Ultra Mirage exclusively leading up to the trial and it was causing a permanent zit on the bridge of my nose.

First of all, I found all of the pads very easy to put on my Liberty mask. And I should say this about the forehead pad--I don't notice when it's there, I only notice when it's not there. With the pad on, I completely forget there's something resting against my forehead.

I tried out all three thicknesses of the nose bridge pad. First I used the standard. I was afraid to cut it at first. I think it may have caused some small leaking. (Not enough to show up on my data report.) It is very hard for me to tell if I am having eye leaks. I sleep with a fan on my bedside table and my husband sleeps with a fan on his bedside table. Whichever way I turn my head, I have a fan blowing in my face anyway. So, the leaks have to be pretty substantial for me to notice.

The Royal Blue pad (medium thickness) worked much the same way. Going into the second week of the trial using the Royal Blue pad, the permanent zit on the bridge of my nose was going away. Still had some small eye leaks. But, I had learned that sleeping on my side smushed the mask against my face in a way that prevented leaking. This was fine with me as I was able to find a comfortable sleeping position and everybody was happy.

Then, on the third week, I started using the Blue Gray pad. I cut it first thing. I was afraid I had cut it too short, but I think I cut it just right. The pressure of the mask against my nose holds it in place and it just barely is long enough protect my nose from the mask. Weirdly, and against all sense and logic, the thickest pad seems to have stopped the eye leaks. (I don't know, either!) I can sleep in any position and don't get the leaks around the pad. So the blue gray will be the one I keep using. Again, when I'm wearing it, I don't even know it's there. But I remember what it was like when it wasn't there.

I still get the red marks around my chin and mouth from the rest of the mask, though. LOL

I'm thankful to have been a part of the trial. I'm not sure if I could think of anything to be done to improve upon the design. It was very easy to use and I didn't have to take my mask apart or anything to get it on. I will certainly be using this for the foreseeable future.

Cassandra

The thin regular one works good at protecting the nose and the forehead no problems.
Sealing with the mask no problem.

The middle size one is the one I like the best, excellent padding for the nose. No pain nor damage to nose.
The middle size sealed very well with my quattro mask, no problems. Mask my mask extra comfortable.

The thicket size one felt good on the nose padding was excellent.
But no matter what I did I could not get the mask to seal using this one.


I finally got it to seal properly. I cut it to about 1 in. length by 1/2 in wide doing this allowed it to seal.
Now all 3 work good.
Though the mid size is my favorite.

All 3 of these protectors are excellent, i"m using the medium thick one on my quattro mask.

Cassandra wrote:I started using the liberty mask exclusively leading up to the trial and it was causing a permanent zit on the bridge of my nose.

Hi, Cass.

The Liberty is an oral cushion with nasal pillows, so how did it cause problems on the bridge of your nose?

I thought the PAC nose-bridge protector relied on a mask's forehead support (which the Liberty doesn't have), so I'm curious re: how you can use it with a Liberty. Am I confused? Or are you?

BleepingBeauty wrote:

Cassandra wrote:I started using the liberty mask exclusively leading up to the trial and it was causing a permanent zit on the bridge of my nose.

Hi, Cass.

The Liberty is an oral cushion with nasal pillows, so how did it cause problems on the bridge of your nose?

I thought the PAC nose-bridge protector relied on a mask's forehead support (which the Liberty doesn't have), so I'm curious re: how you can use it with a Liberty. Am I confused? Or are you?

Hmm... BB I'm not sure I'm the right person to judge if you are confused or not. You are probably right about this, though. I don't know the proper names for any of my masks. (I mean, I know which ones I have, but not what name refers to what mask...) Do you think that's important?

Cassandra wrote: Hmm... BB I'm not sure I'm the right person to judge if you are confused or not. You are probably right about this, though. I don't know the proper names for any of my masks.

Proper names? You mean, like, Mr. Opus or Ms. Liberty?

(I mean, I know which ones I have, but not what name refers to what mask...)

Oh, okay. If memory serves, I think you have the Liberty and the Quattro FFMs (as well as the Opus listed in your profile). If so, then I'm guessing it was the Quattro that was causing your problem. This should help you determine "who's who" among your masks:

Ms. Liberty


Mr. Quattro


Srta. Opus

Do you think that's important?

In the context of whether or not any given mask is affording you good therapy, no, not a bit. In the context of whether or not it further confuses me, you bet! (I'm confuzzled enough on my own as it is, thank you.)