Those doubters among you all...let me explain.
I have always been a nasal pillow user with brief trials of other masks just for the fun to trying something new. I just like to experiment for the fun of experimenting and the education I always get with any experiment. What I learned with my experimenting is that I want the least amount of "stuff" on my face and head as possible. However, when getting less "stuff", we have to sacrifice something somewhere. I found that to get less on my face and head I usually had to sacrifice stability in either the headgear or pillows.
So for the past 9 plus years as new pillow masks were released they were tried, and sometimes they became my new primary mask and sometimes they earned the "it's an okay mask" classification which means I liked it but not well enough for it to unseat the current primary mask at the time. During this time I have privately said..."I wish I could figure out some way to tape/glue the nasal pillows to my nose and just ditch the headgear and not have to mess with a mouth guard either".
When I first read about the Bleep nasal mask the first thought through my mind was "finally someone has actually done what I have always said I wished I could do...glue the mask to my nostrils/nose and there's no headgear to mess with at all". I was 99.99% sure that the Bleep would be a perfect mask for me.
So I finally got to try it, and I was right...for me it is indeed the perfect mask, and I get to say something I have never said about any mask...that I love the Bleep mask. I never could bring myself to really use the "love" word about anything related to cpap. I would always say "like" or "causes me the least annoyances or problems" or "it's okay and I can be successful with it". I would always say that no mask is ever totally perfect for me as I would always find some little something about a mask that kept it from being "perfect" (at least for me and my needs). I am actually a tough consumer and hard to please.
The no headgear thing is very important to me in my personal preferences department. I find headgear annoying, and straps leave dents or marks on my face even with good quality strap pads or I get a bag under one eye from the straps reducing circulation. My skin is such that the least little thing will leave a substantial mark on my face that doesn't go away quickly. Highly annoying ...I don't want to look in the mirror at the beauty shop 8 hours after getting up and seeing lines down my cheeks.
I know that each person is an individual and each person is going to have their own individual personal preferences, wants and needs. So no mask out there is ever going to be "perfect" for 100% of the users out there. It's just the way it is for any mask. What we have to do is figure out is our own personal preferences and the work on finding the mask that meets our own preferences, needs and wants the best.
So I want no headgear, and I want light, and I want it to disappear so that I don't even notice it being on my face or nose or whatever and I want silent. Tough order to fill when we also need it to be stable and not leak and not move around and not cause us wake ups because it is uncomfortable in some area.
The Bleep fills my tough order with my specific preferences, wants and needs. I can't think of one thing that I would need to do to alter it to make it better in terms of fulfilling my needs.
When I follow the directions for using it ...like cleaning my face properly (and I admit I have cheated and didn't do what I was supposed to do and paid the price when the adhesive failed at about 4 AM and I got leaks that woke me up, but I am a quick learner to not repeat that cheating) the adhesive sticks solidly all night.
It's silent unless I don't have the ports attached properly or the vented air bounces off something.
It disappears on my face in about 5 seconds...meaning I simply don't even feel that it is there attached to my nose.
I don't have marks on my face from straps.
It weighs next to nothing.
It is perfect for me and I love it.
So....Advantages over my past 6 weeks of use
Women (and men who care)...NO BAGS under the eyes or strap marks/dents.
NO LEAKS at the mask level if you follow the instructions.
No sizing needed for pillow/cushion...the ports will fit all sizes of nostrils from tiny peanut nostrils to gorilla nostrils. NOTHING at all goes inside the nostril...no inner cone thing...no rim to need to size and fit on the outside of the nostril that can't move or the seal is lost.
No headgear.
Vent noise...not an issue at all for me. No Darth Vadar sounds or anything like that. Explained in more detail later as I know there will be questions about the venting. Venting is silent to my ear.
The adhesive stays put if I follow the directions and it doesn't tear off layer of skin when I remove it. It's just like pulling off a bandaid..not difficult at all.
Weighs next to nothing.
Disappears on the face just after a few seconds and I don't even notice it being on my nose.
I sleep in any and all positions that I want to sleep in including having my face being buried in the bed pillow and I am on my stomach.
Disadvantages...
If a person has really bad arthritis in their hands and limited dexterity...attaching the ports to the mask might be difficult. May need some help.
If a person has a bad cold or allergies and a snotty, drippy mess of a nose...the adhesive probably will get wet and fail. For that reason I would suggest people have another mask available for times when we are ill.
Here's a SleepyHead report from a recent night.
