Face grease

Hard water is very rough on silicone.
Unless your water is exceptionally soft, use distilled for cleaning, rinsing, and boiling.

Thanks for the tips everyone. I washed my cushion with Dawn dish soap, since thats what I had around the house. It seems to have worked well, it looks clear and sticky again. It still smells like the soap though, hopefully that dissipates before bed time.

I also contacted Becky at REMzzzs and she is going to send me a mask liner to try. Ill be trying everyone elses suggestions until I find something that works well for me.

alpha, I clean my nasal mask cushions by wiping with Baby Wipes, without taking them apart. Every two weeks I replace them with new ones.

To find products with safer ingredients Google Environmental Working Group (EWG). EWG rates many cleaners for body and house. I use it routinely when looking for products. Products you are using can usually be checked by specific name. I try to use only cleaner and on body products that rate at "0" or 1. I just checked Johnson baby shampoos and they rate at 3s and 4s out of 5 on a scale of 0-5.
I have used some terrible products thinking they were safe and natural because the label said so. EWG is trying hard to raise funding so you may have to click out of those pages.

Ugh I can relate. I've been using my new wisp now for almost a week, and my face hurts. Breaking out in a few spots, and I have a nice solid red ring around my nose right now, but my AHI's still hovering around 0.6 a night, so there's that

As for boiling - be very careful if you do. Remember that the bottom of the pan/pot is much hotter than the water, so if plastic makes contact, it *could* melt, depending on the material. I would recommend holding it in the water with tongs, leaving it in a strainer in the pot, or using the double boiler method. Steaming it might be effective as well now that I think about it (and you won't lose any of the nutrients )

ironhands wrote:Ugh I can relate. I've been using my new wisp now for almost a week, and my face hurts. Breaking out in a few spots, and I have a nice solid red ring around my nose right now, but my AHI's still hovering around 0.6 a night, so there's that

As for boiling - be very careful if you do. Remember that the bottom of the pan/pot is much hotter than the water, so if plastic makes contact, it *could* melt, depending on the material. I would recommend holding it in the water with tongs, leaving it in a strainer in the pot, or using the double boiler method. Steaming it might be effective as well now that I think about it (and you won't lose any of the nutrients )

Mask cushions are silicone...not plastic...and they are not damaged by the bottom of the pot when boiled.

LSAT wrote:

ironhands wrote:Ugh I can relate. I've been using my new wisp now for almost a week, and my face hurts. Breaking out in a few spots, and I have a nice solid red ring around my nose right now, but my AHI's still hovering around 0.6 a night, so there's that

As for boiling - be very careful if you do. Remember that the bottom of the pan/pot is much hotter than the water, so if plastic makes contact, it *could* melt, depending on the material. I would recommend holding it in the water with tongs, leaving it in a strainer in the pot, or using the double boiler method. Steaming it might be effective as well now that I think about it (and you won't lose any of the nutrients )

Mask cushions are silicone...not plastic...and they are not damaged by the bottom of the pot when boiled.

as I said, depending on the material. Is the wisp not silicone with plastic glued together? I would assume some masks aren't entirely silicone, and could have plastic parts that could melt if contact is made.

My Oracle 2 mask has two plastic detachable parts and other non-detachable parts as will.
If any of those melted or deformed in any way, the mask would be completely useless, so the advice to be careful if boiling is good advice.

ironhands wrote:

LSAT wrote:

ironhands wrote:Ugh I can relate. I've been using my new wisp now for almost a week, and my face hurts. Breaking out in a few spots, and I have a nice solid red ring around my nose right now, but my AHI's still hovering around 0.6 a night, so there's that

As for boiling - be very careful if you do. Remember that the bottom of the pan/pot is much hotter than the water, so if plastic makes contact, it *could* melt, depending on the material. I would recommend holding it in the water with tongs, leaving it in a strainer in the pot, or using the double boiler method. Steaming it might be effective as well now that I think about it (and you won't lose any of the nutrients )

Mask cushions are silicone...not plastic...and they are not damaged by the bottom of the pot when boiled.

as I said, depending on the material. Is the wisp not silicone with plastic glued together? I would assume some masks aren't entirely silicone, and could have plastic parts that could melt if contact is made.

We are talking about MASK CUSHIONS...not the plastic masks itself.

FWIW..I just today had a need to try the baking soda boiling trick.
We have really hard water where I live and I was getting ready to send out a full face mask that was barely used...so I washed it but it ended up being really cloudy (let it soak in my hard water too long) and looked horrid. So decided to do the baking soda and boiling water trick...Only the cushion and it didn't get hurt laying on the bottom of the pan and it came out totally clear and brand new looking. Wish I had done a before and after picture...remarkable the change in it.
How it might affect seal...I have no idea as I don't use full face masks...this was a donated mask.

I didn't boil the headgear or plastic shell the cushion fits in. Those items got a normal hot soapy water wash, soak, then rinse and were fine. The cushion was clean but looked awful though...so that's when I decided to try the baking soda trick.
It works just great.

Update-

So yesterdays wash with Dawn helped, but left some residue and smell, so today I boiled it. OMG it is like brand new!!! We have good water here (not too hard or soft), but I still used distilled water anyway, with some baking soda thrown in. I let it boil for about 5 minutes, flipping it a few times. BTW- the cushion floated, so no concern about damage from the bottom of the pan. Its amazing, like brand new.

I realize that I cant do that very often with out damaging the cushion, but maybe once a month or so should help. I also ordered some wipes from cpap.com and have a sample REMzzzs liner coming to try.

Thanks for everyones help, I was worried that I wouldnt be able to clean my cushion that well and it would cause major leaks, but it looks like there is a solution for everything.

LSAT wrote:

ironhands wrote:

LSAT wrote:

ironhands wrote:Ugh I can relate. I've been using my new wisp now for almost a week, and my face hurts. Breaking out in a few spots, and I have a nice solid red ring around my nose right now, but my AHI's still hovering around 0.6 a night, so there's that

As for boiling - be very careful if you do. Remember that the bottom of the pan/pot is much hotter than the water, so if plastic makes contact, it *could* melt, depending on the material. I would recommend holding it in the water with tongs, leaving it in a strainer in the pot, or using the double boiler method. Steaming it might be effective as well now that I think about it (and you won't lose any of the nutrients )

Mask cushions are silicone...not plastic...and they are not damaged by the bottom of the pot when boiled.

as I said, depending on the material. Is the wisp not silicone with plastic glued together? I would assume some masks aren't entirely silicone, and could have plastic parts that could melt if contact is made.

We are talking about MASK CUSHIONS...not the plastic masks itself.

Yes; I understand that. Some MASK CUSHIONS are not purely silicone, they may have plastic pieces attached to them that cannot be removed. The wisp cushion piece is glued to a solid piece of plastic where the hose and headgear attach to it, and the mirage quattro I was using last moth also has two little tabs/clips which also are made out of plastic from what I remember.

Regardless, given the cost and importance of these parts, a little caution won't hurt. Holding them in boiling water with some tongs, a spoon, or on a strainer or steamer will simply be safer. The bottom of a pot is much hotter than the water, and, depending on what type of plastics MAY be attached to SOME cushions, it COULD damage it... I'm not saying don't boil, I'm simply recommending that caution be taken to prevent damage that could occur if the part makes contact with the bottom of the pot. I would hate for someone to inadvertently melt or warp a clip and have to go a night or two without their machine. We're talking about someone's health here, I don't think it's wrong to recommend a little caution and rest the parts on a spoon or tongs when boiling to prevent damage to a $50+ dollar part, and risk cardiac events by not being able to use their medical device.