A friend of mine uses a "mask" that simply fits into his nasal openings and he loves it.  When I asked my doctor about it, he told me that his patient's have not had a good experience with them and he suggested I stick with the nose mask I was prescribed.

Anyone use the nasal-only "mask?"  If so, what brand/make and what has your experience been?

Hi kcliff01.

At the top of this forum is an Announcement with information on equipment:
http://apneasupport.org/viewtopic.php?t=6732

Inside that announcement, is a multimedia gallery link for machines and masks.  Please have a look, a number of the mask interfaces are detailed there.

In brief, there are only a few types of masks:

Nasal cushion ("cup") - the traditional looking mask that fits over the nose
Nasal pillows - these rest up against the nostrils to form a seal but do NOT go up inside the nose
Nasal directseal - a variant of nasal pillows that has a different shape, works better for some people
Nasal prongs - there are only a few makes of these, they DO go inside the nose to form the seal

Full face mask - one piece that covers nose and mouth
Hybrid type full face mask - combination of mouth coverage + nasal pillows
Mouth-only mask - this leaves the nose free and covers only the mouth

(I don't think I missed any...?)

People who mouth-breathe usually end up with one of the last three, though some people who mouth breathe have success using a nasal mask, a chin strap, and sealing their lips with gel or tape.  And some people have been able to 'retrain' themselves to not breathe through their mouths at all.

Some folk don't mouth breathe but the CPAP air manages to find its way out from under the lips.  I'm one of those, I have a full face mask simply because it is more comfortable to me than sealing my lips.  Air lost other than through the exhaust vents in the mask, is usually responsible for a decreased effectiveness of your CPAP therapy.  

A nasal mask is fine if mouth-breathing or lip leakage is not an issue.  Many people like the pillows type of masks, if their pressure isn't very high (below 15 or so, depends on the mask).  Pillows masks and some nasal cushion masks are only rated to a certain maximum, and will misbehave at higher pressures.

Again please have a look around the information available at the top of this (and the other forums), many of your questions will be answered all at once

Blessings,
--pseudonym

some doctors think their personal prejudices mean more than anything


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resmed S6 lightweight, respironics comfort gell mask using CPAP since 1995, no humidifier
during my many years of severe fatigue, no doctor ever asked me if I snored

I use Respironic Comfort gel nasal mask & really like it


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RemStar M Series w/humidifer & Comfort gel nasal mask. Pressure setting @ 9cm/H2O
May God Bless You

You may be referring to the Optilife which has little round nasal pillows that fit right into the nostrils rather than cover the nose.  I use one as a backup mask.  There are others of this type you can view on this site.

<Commercial link removed.  Please review posting guidelines.>


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CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO~ http://tinyurl.com/69q52a


ResMed S8 Elite, F&P Flexifit 406, Optilife
AHI 54/hr, Pressure 8, desat. 73