Aura Q's

Hi, I've been wondering about the Aura for quite a while, mainly because of so many good 'reviews' on it here. I now use an Ultramirage nasal mask, mainly because the vents are diffused behind the little plastic 'cape' on the elbow, and so aren't blocked by the way I tend to sleep the way so many other masks are that have the vents right smack in the middle at the front of the mask. Anyhow, I tried the Swift in the past, but found next to no benefit with it, either because I just felt no better the next day (as if I hadn't used my machine), or because I found none of the pillows seemed to fit well - either too small, too uneven, etc. There's a CPAP site (forget right now) that says if your nostrils are not exactly the same, to forget using the Aura, but while mine do not seem to be identical, they're not hugely different either, and it's hard to know what to do as I would really like to try the set-up... but cannot, as there is no dealer anywhere around in this province to be able to call for a trial. Just curious about how precisely identical nares have to really be to wear the Aura, or what. Thanks.

Julie, I don't think the nares need to be identical to wear nasal pillows in general, but others might differ in that opinion.

Adding an extra homemade strap across the nasal part of the Aura keeps the pillows in place. I can wear either the medium or large pillows with the Aura and have no problem. But..... it's probably because I put a little extra support across the bottom to keep the nasal pillows steadily in place.

Using the Aura (Aeiomed's dumb sounding new name for it is "Headrest") with its own headgear, the extra strap I use goes in one of these three positions:








With my deconstructed Aura, two homemade straps go here:


or here:


jcarn came up with a wonderful rubber band trick to bring the nasal pillows in closer to the nostrils without adding any extra strap at all. Works great for many people:
Dec 03, 2005 subject: fix for aura - the rubber band trick Pictures of jcarn's rubber band fix for the Aura.

The good thing about the Aura's nasal assembly and its pillows is that the whole thing is smushy enough down there to be comfortable even if you are pushing the side of your face against your head pillow. No hard parts near the nostrils like the cylinder of the Swift or the shell of the Breeze to shove the pillows against the inner parts of the nostrils.

I don't mean that you won't ever feel the Aura's pillows, but with some tweaking it's the easiest interface to sleep in I've ever found.

I don't think the fact that your nares are different sizes or shapes from each other would be a factor in wearing the Aura. But....I could be very wrong about that! We all gamble each time we try something different. Good luck!!

I agree with RG, unless your nares were significantly different in size or shape, the Aura pillows should work for you. Even if one nare was bigger than the other, you should still be okay.

I use the Large pillows, but could probably easily use the Medium size too. So, just use the largest size you need and it will fit the smaller nare also.

For many, the most difficult thing about the Aura (Headrest) is the cap. That's why several of us followed RGs lead, and "deconstructed" the interface from the cap. Works fine and feels great.