Fitting pillows of Aurta

Hi, my problem is that while I have a feeling Aura might be right for me, I have no way of trying out the pillows for size because I'm in Canada, and there is as yet no one selling the masks here. I called Aura and they won't send or sell me just the pillows for sizing, and while I know they have the chart (girl with the ruler) online, it's still seems to be kind of objective - the measurements you take (on yourself) seem to change daily! I have been using the Ultramirage nasal mask with a tiny crescent cut out of the (firmer) inner lip of the mask at the bottom, because the mask is otherwise just a tiny bit short, and irritates the little bone JUST under my nose. It's not working too badly, but I do get some erratic leaks, and have already copied (for my personal possible use only) Rested Gal's rigging of the Aura 'just in case'. Is there anyone out there who can access a set of the pillows, or nasal piece from an Aura at no cost to themselves, OR else let me know how much it would cost me to just buy that piece 'on trial'? Hope I've made myself clear. Thanks a lot for your patience!

Julie,

When I received my Aura last month it came with two nasal pieces (pillows), one medium and one large. I found the medium was perfect. The rest of the head gear is all the same size I believe. I may be wrong but I do not believe there was much sizing to it. I did not have to measure nose size because it is only the size of your nares that would make a difference.

Peels is right, Julie. The headgear itself is one size, adjustable, although not adjustable down small enough for many women's heads, thus the homemade strap tweaks.

The "Headrest" (Aura) comes with two sizes of nasal pillows - medium and large. Both those sizes work well for me, probably because of the way I stabilize the nasal part just a tad more with a homemade strap around it down low. I have a small nose with smallish nares.

I'd think the only ones who might have a pillows size problem would be some men with very big nares (nostril openings.) I think Derek had trouble with air leaks with the Aura...he measured his nares and they were considerably larger than those of a several other men who measured their nostril openings and posted their numbers.

Aeiomed finally got around to making "Extra Large" pillows, but those have to be ordered separately. It comes only with Medium and Large. Those two sizes would fit almost everyone fine.

Main thing to be aware of when changing the nasal assembly -- don't try to shove it on or pull it off without giving it a quarter-turn first. It has to be turned slightly sideways first. You shouldn't try to pull it straight off when changing sizes. It's easy to forget to turn it, and end up stripping the "catch" if you pull it off forcibly.

Thank you, but all I meant was the prong size. RG - you say you have small nares, but that the med. and lge. sizes work for you... why isn't the large TOO large? And how can I go about testing for myself?

There really isn't much of a prong with the pillows. Most of the unit it circular shaped outside the nose. It just covers up the opening of the nostril. There is a small prong inside the nose, but I guess that is just to help stabilize the pillow.

I also wear a Large (didn't try on the Medium), but I wore a Large NasalAire too, so I think I have large openings.

Julie, I am finding the same thing with the DME's in Ontario that I talked to. None have even heard of AEIOmed let alone the Aura/headrest mask. One has told me he can get it but so far no mask. You will likely have to purchase the mask from the US. Just make sure you get both pillow sizes that the others have mentioned.

Thanks a lot, everyone. J.