Soreness on bridge of nose with full face mask

[OntarioKevin]

Anyone have any suggestions for this?

Finally happy with the pressure/humidity with my new CPAP machine, but the bridge of my nose is red, sore, and getting worse each night.

Have tried various homemade silicone cushions (cut from other products) and bandaids, but it makes the air leakage pretty bad.

Any suggestions?

[BeachGirl]

[ThatMaskedMan]

Hi Kevin. I had the same problem when I was new. The general recommendation is a padding called "moleskin", in the foot care section of pharmacy or supermarket. A small leak is compensated for by the machine but i suppose is annoying near the eyes. What eventually worked for me was to go alternate nights with a nasal pillow mask to give bridge of nose a chance to heal. When it healed, my skin toughened up a bit and never bothered me again.

I don't want to badmouth the brand "Comfort Gel", other than to joke that on this site's chat we used to call it "Confront Hell", but mine was given to me free by my sleep lab and I'm guessing they got it dirt cheap with a volume discount. I love full face but prefer Ultra Mirage fullface or maybe Mirage Quattro, and large was too leaky, I had to go to medium. Best of luck, eh?

[Janknitz]

Check out the fitting technique in my signature below "Taming the Mirage Quattro". That should help with any silicone cushion type of FF mask. It works with nasal masks, too. This takes the pressure entirely off the nose, while still getting a good seal.

[OntarioKevin]

Moleskin's a good tip - thanks.

Tried a bandaid last night - really not much help.

Ordered some of those Confront Hell pads anyway - I'll try anything.

Quattro FX sound interesting as well, although I just ordered a Hybrid and the shipping is so expensive to Canada I hate to order too much stuff!

[ThatMaskedMan]

Oh no, Kevin! My reference to ComfortGel was only because your profile shows that as being your present mask, and my experience with it was negative. I never heard of ComfortGel pads, and when I googled them, it said they were for irritated nipples in breastfeeding mothers. Whatever. Lansinoh works in nostrils, but I'll bed those pads are way too thick to go between the silicone flap and the bridge of Kevin's nose.

I'm kicking myself for not thinking to mention http://www.padacheek.com . That site has a button to look at nose bridge protectors, and that shows they have a pair specifically for ComfortGel fullface. Plus the head of that company is a super nice lady, on CPAP herself, who often comes to this site's live chat around 9:30pm.

[newhosehead]

I know the solution is different for different users, but I have to plug the SeQual Sleep Comfort Care Pad. I had a terrible time with soreness on the bridge of my nose..tried moleskin (totally unworkable for me) bandaids, etc. Nothing worked until I got this product; it has totally solved the problem for me. Good luck with finding your solution!

Disclaimer: I am not now, nor have I ever been, associated with SeQual!

[Madalot]

My experience was similar and I tried everything. I was using first aid tape and cotton pads! My nose was so raw it was bleeding. My DME was shocked when they saw it.

I finally loosened the mask for a couple nights to give it a chance to heal -- we didn't worry about the resulting leaks. I also started a serious cleaning regimin, which included using an acne astringent on the affected area (once it was healed enough to tolerate it).

Then I began using a bandaid (plastic - this was critical). In the last 2-3 months, I've stopped using anything. I think my nose bridge has toughened up enough that it's no longer necessary.

[snoozysue]

I have found the Comfort Sleep Pad to be a "nose saver". It eliminates redness and soreness.