corneal erosions

[sojourner]

My husband has been having recurrent problems with one eye. He is having corneal erosions. I believe this is due to the air blowing in his eye all night.
Does anyone else have any experience with this complication of treatment for sleep apnea?

[momadams]

I had this situation before starting CPAP, so was paranoid about keeping air out of my eyes.
To this end I:
Continue to use eye ointment at night.
Made sure I have a mask which exhausts away from my eyes and doesn't have a seal over the bridge of my nose (in case seal would leak).
Fashioned a weighted eye mask to keep any stray swirling air out of my eyes.

Hope this helps.

Shari

[TXKajun]

sojourner, if he's getting air blown into his eyes at night, that probably means his mask isn't sealing properly at the top. Which means that his therapy is going to be less than optimal. Bummer both ways.

If he's tried all the mask adjustments at pressure and still has the problem, he might want to try what I do. I've found that if I get some Mack's silicone ear plugs (at wallyworld, 12 for <$5), take one, twist it in half, then roll out a thin rope using the half, squish it flat and put it the inside of my mask seal at the top nose part, then put my mask on carefully that all my leaks are gone. Simple, cheap and easy. It tends to make the seal of the mask much more effective.

I'm sure others will give you more ideas. Good luck!

Kajun

[JeffH]

There's another one here. I have the same problem. Mine came from a car accident about 12 years ago. Been on CPAP about 8 / 9 years and had it come apart on me about 5 or 6 times over the years. Here is what I've learned after the last BAD run in with this problem.

I use Muro 128 drops in my bad eye three times a day.
I use Optive lubricating drops thru out the day.
When I got to bed at night, I put in a half inch ribbon of Muro 128 ointment, followed by a half inch ribbon of Lacri-lube ointment.
If I wake up in the night (and I usually do) I put a drop of Optive in both eyes.
When I wake up in the morning, I GENTLY wash the bad eye lid with baby shampoo on a white washcloth.....GENTLY!

Since I have been following this routine, I haven't had any problems.

Probably the best (and most painful) thing I did to try and keep this from happening again is I sold my motorcycle. Growing up is a bitch.


JeffH

[Handgunner45]

Strangely, I suffered with recurrent corneal erosions for 10+ years, however, since I have been on CPAP, I have not had any occurances of the erosions returning. Hadn't even thought about it till I saw this topic. I do frequently wake up with my eyes excessively dry in the morning, but no errosions. Strange .

[drummergirl410]

From what I've been told, getting the air in your eyes is a pretty big concern. I'm visually impaired as it is, so both my DME RT and the RT that did my studies warned me about it and took extra steps to makw sure the masks fit well. Thankfuly this hasn't been an issue. usually if my mask leaks, it's the lower end and not the part around my eyes. I'm also very vigilent to make sure my mask is sealing well. I hope your husband is able to find a solution quickly.

[Snoredog]

I would suggest he see his eye doctor for an eye exam to access any damage, they may be able to give him some special drops that would keep the eye moistened.

It is not good to allow the air to blow into the eye, it dries it out which is what keeps the lense lubricated from scratching.

I would suggest he consider a Soyala Nasal mask, once he adjusts its to stop any leaking into the eyes it will remain in that position. With the Soyala, he would be more likely to have a red mark on his nose as opposed to leaking in the eye (due to design of the cushion/skirt).

If he is now using a Medium mask size, get a Large in the Soyala, it tends to run smaller than comparable masks and make sure the mask rides in the right location
on the nose to reduce leaks there.

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/Soyala ... dgear.html

[JeffH]

Reoccurring corneal erosions have no cure, only treatment. What I posted it what my eye doc told me to do for the rest of my life. He said the further away from the last one you get, the less likely they are to happen again.

He also told me to treat it with a great deal of respect, because if you don't you could lose that eye. I never fail to do what he told me to do on a daily basis.

As I posted earlier, the pic of them harvesting soybeans across from my house. Dust in the air like that makes me remember that my eye is injured. I have put more lub drops in today than I have in a long time. Anything that can cause friction on the eyeball is not good when you have this condition.

JeffH