Nasal Pillows (P10) - sore entrance to nostrils, baggy eyes

Wearing the nasal pillows is starting to feel like a sick version of torture, regardless of the pillow size. I have read several posts stating the pillows do not enter the nostril, they inflate against it - so I've tried my best to do just that. However, if you watch the video from Resmed itself, it tells you to insert the pillows into your nostril. My straps are not tight and the pillows seem somewhat comfortable against my nostrils - I still get the burning sore, redness sensation after a while regardless of what I do.

No idea how my eyes are so heavy and baggy, I look like a domestic violence victim when I wake up. Air is not blowing onto my face at all.

I am going to buy the nipple cream (lol) after work at the pharmacy. I am hoping for some sweet relief - I had to switch to my full face mask last night.

It's hard to be compliant every night when you deal with all the discomfort of masks - I've tried at least 5 by now - supposedly the top ones - and they all have flaws.

Only the tiny tip of the inner cone actually goes in the nostril and nowhere does it touch the inside of the nostril. The bulk of the nasal pillow is supposed to rest gently against the outer nostril area.
Take a nasal pillow all by itself and place it gently against the nostril and breath in an out...that's all that is needed to get and create a seal.
At the most some very minor tenderness can happen on the outer nostril area because that area is pretty much virgin territory and never had more than a Kleenex on it.

If you are experiencing anything more than very minor tenderness then either you have the wrong size nasal pillow or it is fitted improperly. The most common mistake that people make is they get the straps too darn tight.
Put the mask on with the headgear and look in the mirror. If the first thought going through you head is "piggy nose" then the straps are too tight. The nose shouldn't be upturned at all.

The P10 doesn't have as much adjustability as other more traditional nasal pillow masks but it is adjustable to some extent by moving the straps closer or farther apart.

What size headgear? the pink/gray or blue/gray are you using?
What size of nasal pillows have you tried?

Puffy/baggy skin around the eyes...the straps are restricting circulation...too tight and compressing on the cheeks too much. I have had it happen when I might lay on one side for a prolonged period of time and the strap has slipped upwards toward my eye just a little bit.

It sounds like your mask is too tight. The P10 headgear is often too small at first.
You can stretch it out by wrapping it tightly around a towel while damp, and let it dry that way.
"Insert" is a bad choice of words. {{{Directions are often written by people whose English is poor.}}}
Think more like the pillow is a little saddle, and your nose a tiny tushie.
Seat the edge of your nostril GENTLY on the sloping side of the cone.
The outside edge of the cone NEVER goes inside your nostril.
Lansinoh (a wee bit) will help stick things together softly, like they should be.
Dab a little extra on your elbows--it's miraculous.

sounds like I should move from the medium pillows to the large ones, that should make it even less likely that the pillows have a chance of going into my nostrils at all. the straps don't feel tight at all but I will try to space them out more to loosen the fit. I'm using the blue/grey headgear (the regular p10) and have tried all the pillow sizes - small does not seem to work well for me. I did my sleep test with the medium pillows, woke up with the same pain/soreness.

raisedfist wrote:Wearing the nasal pillows is starting to feel like a sick version of torture, regardless of the pillow size. I have read several posts stating the pillows do not enter the nostril, they inflate against it - so I've tried my best to do just that. However, if you watch the video from Resmed itself, it tells you to insert the pillows into your nostril. My straps are not tight and the pillows seem somewhat comfortable against my nostrils - I still get the burning sore, redness sensation after a while regardless of what I do.

I use the P10, in fact if it were not for the P10 I would not be using CPAP. The masks all drove me crazy. My Nostrils were a bit raw at first but got used to it, skin toughened up a bit I guess. They started hurting again about the 4 month mark. I could not figure out what was going on. I called my respiratory therapist to see if she had any insight. She asked me when the last time I changed out my mask. Of course I said I never have, I did not know any better. She said watch the mail. She sent me replacement pillows with instructions to change them monthly. My nostrils have been comfy since. I did notice that the first one I used for four months was quite hard compared to the new one.

My schedule now is a new complete mask every six months and replacement pillows monthly.

I found that with the P10 nasal pillows that they tended to want to crawl up inside my nostrils more than any other nasal pillow mask that I have used so I had to move up in size from what I normally use.
It hurt like a son of a gun when it would crawl up inside and it also would collapse and I couldn't breathe with it up so far. Going up a size totally fixed the issue.

Try the size Large if you haven't already and get that Lansinoh ointment. It really does help. Use it frequently during the day to help heal and sparingly at night.
Don't use a lot at night or your body heat will cause it to melt and you might end up with the nasal pillow blowing in your ear (I did that once )

If you are getting piggy nose despite moving the straps to the loosest position you may need to stretch the headgear out a little bit. One of the drawbacks to the P10 is that for some people that headgear just doesn't stretch out enough initially. Usually with time it stretches out on its own but while it is gradual stretching it can sure be uncomfortable.
The blue headgear is the largest...I thought maybe if you were using the pink that you could try the blue but since you are already using the blue...there isn't anything any larger.
Now some people did alter the blue headgear and sewed in a little extra elastic...so that's an option if all else fails.

If everything fails...have you looked at the Swift FX nasal pillow? The pillows are very similar to the P10 but the headgear is more adjustable. Unfortunately it doesn't have the diffused venting of the P10 so it is a bit noisier in the venting department.

Pugsy wrote:I found that with the P10 nasal pillows that they tended to want to crawl up inside my nostrils more than any other nasal pillow mask that I have used so I had to move up in size from what I normally use.
It hurt like a son of a gun when it would crawl up inside and it also would collapse and I couldn't breathe with it up so far. Going up a size totally fixed the issue.

Try the size Large if you haven't already and get that Lansinoh ointment. It really does help. Use it frequently during the day to help heal and sparingly at night.
Don't use a lot at night or your body heat will cause it to melt and you might end up with the nasal pillow blowing in your ear (I did that once )

If you are getting piggy nose despite moving the straps to the loosest position you may need to stretch the headgear out a little bit. One of the drawbacks to the P10 is that for some people that headgear just doesn't stretch out enough initially. Usually with time it stretches out on its own but while it is gradual stretching it can sure be uncomfortable.
The blue headgear is the largest...I thought maybe if you were using the pink that you could try the blue but since you are already using the blue...there isn't anything any larger.
Now some people did alter the blue headgear and sewed in a little extra elastic...so that's an option if all else fails.

If everything fails...have you looked at the Swift FX nasal pillow? The pillows are very similar to the P10 but the headgear is more adjustable. Unfortunately it doesn't have the diffused venting of the P10 so it is a bit noisier in the venting department.

wow a lot to digest here. I will be practicing in front of the mirror tonight - making extra certain the pillows don't enter my nostril. I will try the large pillows to make that more likely. I will also be applying the cream once I get out of work here and buy some. the inside of my nostrils are so dry and scabbed up right now like I have a cold.

my RT actually put the swift fx in the mail and I should be getting it tomorrow. will try it out but I will also be trying to perfect the p10.

I also use the P10. Part of my nightly routine is to put the mask on. I have to breath a few breaths to get the auto start to kick in then lift the pillows off my nose and recenter the pillows. I thought i was a medium to start with but had to move up to the large quickly. I found that the medium pillow caused micro leaks on my nose. My nose had windburn. The lanasol, larger size pillow and recentering with air pressure fixed the wind burn problem quickly.

2 years into this I will still rarely wake up with my mask off just enough to cause a micro leak and use the lanasol to heal up quick.

Does lanasol expire? I still have 3/4 of my 2year old original tube. It really doesn't take much to do the job.

This is probably a stupid suggestion but make sure the size printing is towards you face. I started out with med and and ended up using a small. The med was rubbing the center of the nasel passage but the small took care of that.

used the large pillows last night. that nipple cream is AMAZING. nose does not hurt and when I pulled out the pillows in the morning no stinging sore nostrils. I did make the fitting as loose as reasonably possible and that seemed to help. still woke up with my eyes a bit heavy but a bit more stretching of the headgear should do the trick.

aside from the cream what helps the most is to keep the headgear strap stretched out while you fit the pillows so it doesnt naturally push the pillows into your nostrils. once the straps are fitted you can pull the pillows away from your nose and reset them to make sure they just inflate against the entrance to your nostrils.

yay.

Wonder if you've looked at the Swift FX? More adjustable than the P10, and doesn't tend to readjust itself overnight. I find that the P10 starts out comfortably enough, but overnight it tightens up as the straps readjust themselves. The FX is just setup and fitted, and stays pretty much as it starts all night. A little heavier and noisier than the P10, but I'll take the consistent comfort of the "fixed" adjustment anytime.

For me, at the moment, using the tap pap since I need a break from headgear altogether...working fine for my purposes, but want to get back to the FX.

RogerSC wrote:Wonder if you've looked at the Swift FX?

raisedfist wrote: my RT actually put the swift fx in the mail and I should be getting it tomorrow. will try it out but I will also be trying to perfect the p10.

Hello All. New user here so bare with me.
I just started treatment and last night was my 2nd attempt. I'm using the Swift FX nasal pillows with Airsense 10 Autoset with pressure settings from 4 - 16 and managed to keep the machine on for 1 hour the first night. Last night I managed to relax and stop mouth breathing and used the machine for 6.5 hours. A major accomplishment considering what I've read here and there on the internet. My issue is that when I woke the interior of my nostrils hurt. Could this be a sizing issue? Is the headgear to tight? Do you think I'm forcing the pillows to far up into the nostrils? I'm using the mediums, should I try the smaller or the larger?
Any input would be greatly appreciated

HunterG wrote: ... My issue is that when I woke the interior of my nostrils hurt. Could this be a sizing issue? Is the headgear to tight? Do you think I'm forcing the pillows to far up into the nostrils? I'm using the mediums, should I try the smaller or the larger? Any input would be greatly appreciated

Any of the above could contribute to the issue. If you are literally "forcing" the pillows, that is the first thing to stop doing. The pillow is designed to function as a cushion resting gently on the outer pad of flesh surrounding the nostril - the tip of the pillow only curves in toward the nostrils, not "into" the nostrils. Size definitely matters, the general rule of thumb is to use the largest pillow that fits comfortably and doesn't leak. Regardless of the size of pillow you end up using, make sure the headgear isn't too tight and use a light coating of Lansinoh around that fleshy surround of the nose to mitigate irritation and enhance the seal of the cushion.

Definitely appreciate your suggestions. I'll make some adjustments and hopefully reach a happy medium sooner than later